Naruto Uzumaki: Prologue Orange
by Twisted Takes
Summary: Love. One of the few things Naruto wanted out of life from the day he could comprehend it, but on Team 7's first real mission to Wave Country, he learned lesson 1 of love. It hurts. Following the death of Haku, Team 7 sees a profound change in Naruto; "the strongest steel is tempered in the hottest of fires..." A Prologue to Orange Flash; Naru/FemHaku light Naru/Saku Strong!Naruto
1. Chapter 1: The Life of a Shinobi

AN: Alright, time to begin our journey through Naruto's childhood. This story will be updated at a specific interval. From now on, after every 3 (approximately) chapters of Orange flash, I'll release one chapter of Prologue Orange. Each chapter will stand on its' own, and as you can see, they'll be about twice as long as a standard Orange Flash chapter on average. With that said, I'd like to thank all of you for your support, and I hope that you all continue to follow the Orange Flash AU.

* * *

Evening ~ Tazuna's Home

' _It's been a while since I've felt this way... For some time, I thought that things in my life were beginning to make some kind of sense, but in the end, I am a shinobi. Nothing in this profession is ever so simple, but how am I supposed to handle it? When someone close to me ends up on the other side, as an enemy… Just like that, I'm alone again.'_

"Um… Naruto?"

The sound of Sakura's voice interrupted Naruto's train of thought.

"… What is it?" Naruto's reply was more of a statement than a question, his voice was a rasp and despite his lack of hostility, Sakura could feel the air become colder as she got closer to him.

"Um… Dinner's ready, we have a long walk back to Konoha tomorrow and you should-"

"It's fine… I'm not very hungry."

Naruto didn't turn to reply to his teammate, he remained perched on his spot on Tazuna's roof.

Sakura winced. "Oh… Naruto, if you need more time to yourself it's fine, I can make sure we leave you some food…"

She trailed off when she saw that Naruto's eyes showed telltale signs of hastily wiped tears. Sakura covered her mouth in surprise and shuffled backwards slightly, however, she didn't leave.

She sat down next to Naruto and instead attempted to offer some sort of consolation. "Naruto, I… I don't know what I can say to make this right, but I know you'll bounce back from this… Casualties… they're a very real part of being a shinobi."

Naruto pulled his knees into his chest and stared at a cloud of fireflies in the yard below. "It's not as simple as that, I know this profession never quite involves the easy road… but that girl that died on the bridge… she was… we…"

Naruto trailed off and wiped his eyes again, continuing to stare at the reflection of the night sky in the lake. Sakura read into his response, and slowly became more and more horrified as the pause lengthened. If Naruto was insinuating what she believed, he'd likely never really recover from this mission.

She broke the silence. "Naruto, what exactly are you saying?"

"Nothing… I'm rambling. We were close, that's all."

Sakura turned from Naruto to the lake's reflection. "Naruto, you can tell me what's on your mind. I know I haven't exactly been the nicest to you these past couple of years… but I want you to know that I'm here for you when it really counts. I think it'd be good for you to vent… and between Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke-kun, I may be the only one you can talk to right now."

Naruto's expression improved a tiny bit, but his focus remained on the sparkling lake. "I guess you're right… but where should I start?"

Sakura thought for a moment before speaking. "How'd you two meet?"

Naruto replied, but after a long pause. "After the 2nd day of tree climbing I got frustrated and left to clear my head. I punched this tree and a weird yellow fruit, shaped like a star or something, hit me in the head… I was out cold, and when I woke up, she was there… I went to see her every day after that, we just sat there and talked until the sun went down…"

Sakura looked at Naruto and playfully jabbed him in the shoulder. "Oh I know _that_ , Kakashi sensei would make us go out looking for you sometimes."

Naruto zipped his jacket up tighter. "Oh… Sorry."

Sakura recoiled a tiny bit when she saw his face; Naruto had no life in his eyes, a far cry from what she was used to seeing from her blonde teammate.

"It's fine Naruto. Just talk, say whatever you need to."

Naruto looked up at the stars for a moment, and took a deep breath before speaking.

"When I met her, I finally got one of the few things I wanted out of life, she was just like me. She grew up without a real family, and yeah, while I have a few people that take care of me, they're always busy with something or other, and they never tell me what's going on… so I don't see them very often, if at all… I'm usually on my own."

Sakura found this strange and pried a bit further. "You mean like the Sandaime? I remember he'd pick you up from the academy from time to time."

Naruto nodded. "Yeah… Can I ask you something?"

Sakura became slightly nervous, but powered through her apprehension.

"Of course."

Naruto started to tear up again, his voice was rife with confusion. "No one's really seen me as I am... I'm never just ' _Naruto'_ to people, it's like no one thinks about what I want... My Guardians won't tell me much of anything about who I am, or where I came from, and people are either mean to me, or they try to ignore me… Something's happening above my head, and it seems like everyone except me knows what's going on. _ **I'm just… lost.**_ "

Naruto took a moment to wipe his eyes and continued.

"Sakura-chan... What would you do if someone told you they loved you... and then they disappeared?"

Sakura gasped a tiny bit at the question, she was unable to answer it... Not only that, but she could see that Naruto genuinely had no idea what to do with himself as he stared at her, no, through her. His eyes were blue pits of emptiness, and somehow, there was no light reflecting off of them despite the brightness of the moon. Sakura thought for a moment and tried to put herself in Naruto's shoes, and while she couldn't quite imagine Sasuke falling in love with anyone at the moment, she was able to put a faceless imaginary boy in his place for the sake of the argument. As her mind wandered, she began to comprehend the amount of pain Naruto was in at the moment, she then took that pain, and tried to multiply it tenfold. The conclusion of these mental gymnastics eventually brought Sakura to a misty-eyed blend between sadness and anger.

Sakura grabbed Naruto's hand and shook her head.

"I... I don't know. Naruto, I'm not sure I can truly grasp what you're feeling right now, especially with the life that you've been living until recently. I… don't even know if I have an answer for you to be completely honest. I'm just a normal girl who decided to become a ninja, no ninja-family history, no super bloodline powers... I'm just going my own way. This mission was the roughest week of my life, and something tells me that you, Sasuke-kun, and Kakashi-sensei have seen worse days than this..."

Naruto paused at the statement, but eventually nodded. "… You're not wrong… I've just never felt this strongly about someone before… now she's gone."

Sakura grabbed Naruto's hands and tried to smile, but Naruto's broken expression made her feel like she had accidentally kicked a puppy, her smile slowly faded from view. "I'll admit, there's a lot I don't quite understand yet, but I do know that you can beat this, and that you'll come back stronger than ever."

Naruto gave her a defeated nod, his eyes locked on a singular spot in the grass below.

Looking at him was making Sakura misty-eyed again; she knew that she couldn't cry, otherwise, what kind of teammate would she be? She'd failed to be of any assistance during the mission, and if it weren't for Naruto… The whole of Team 7 would have very likely died on that bridge, there was no debating it.

Sakura vowed, that from this moment onward, she would contribute everything that she had to Team 7. Something as small as not crying in front of Naruto at that moment was important, as he needed someone to help pull him out of this rut, and crying with him wouldn't help the situation.

Sakura bit back the tears and put her smile back on, she stood up on the roof-tiles and pulled Naruto up with her.

"Come on, stand up."

Naruto stared at her and stood up, he faced forward toward the lake, while she faced his right shoulder, both of her hands wrapped around his own.

Sakura's smile had a sort of beauty to it that seemed familiar; it reminded Naruto of the way Haku smiled at him when he first met her, she then hugged him.

"Naruto _ **, find something to fight for**_ , you know, a reason to push yourself forward… It's what helps me stay motivated."

Naruto's face began to flush and he once more found himself deep in thought, Sakura released Naruto from the hug and smiled at him again.

Naruto's lips upturned a tiny bit, but calling it a smile would be wishful thinking. "… Arigato, Sakura-chan, it means a lot… but I think I need to be alone for a while."

Sakura nodded. "Oh, I um… I understand. If there's anything you need, just say the word, I'm right here."

The young girl stood up and hopped off of the roof, she apprehensively opened the door, but not before turning to see Naruto dart off into the night sky, Sakura sighed and closed the door behind her.

When Sakura turned around, she was eye-to-chest with a slightly bloodied flak jacket.

"… How is he?"

Sakura took a breath to speak, but paused for a moment, Kakashi started to appear concerned.

She shook her head sighed. "I've never seen him like this before, he was crying. Naruto doesn't cry… Naruto doesn't even get sad… or so I thought. That girl on the bridge… _I think he might have been_ … Nevermind, he bolted off into the forest about a minute ago."

Kakashi grabbed his chin and pondered the nature of Naruto's situation. "Hn. You bring Sasuke down to eat, I'll go talk to Naruto."

Sakura sheepishly nodded and trudged up the stairs while Kakashi disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

As Sakura walked through the dim hallway, she could feel the temperature drop as she approached the door to Sasuke's room, she knocked, and waited a few seconds.

The door opened slowly, and in the darkness, Sakura saw a pair of blood red eyes lock onto her own. She jumped and gasped, slowly raising a finger to point at his blood red orbs.

"S-Sasuke-kun, your eyes!"

Sasuke stared back at her for a moment, visibly annoyed.

"I'm… having trouble turning them off, they're giving me a headache… Leave me."

The door slammed shut hard enough to ruffle Sakura's hair; she slapped her forehead, whispering to herself.

' _Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!'_

She groaned at her inability to keep her composure around the Uchiha and spoke so that he would hear her through the door.

"S-sorry to bother you Sasuke-kun, but dinner's ready… _i-i_ f you're hungry that is..."

There was a short pause, and Sasuke's door swung open again, the piercing red eyes startled Sakura again, making her reflexively hop backwards. Sasuke locked eyes with her for another moment and turned toward the stairs, Sakura stayed there, frozen in position, she stared as the Uchiha sauntered down to the kitchen.

Sakura followed suit and awkwardly sat down at the table next to Sasuke. Tsunami took the platter of fish, and with a huge smile, she placed it on the table.

Tazuna grinned at the steaming dish and his stomach growled. "You never cease to amaze Tsunami!"

The man broke his chopsticks and was about to dig in, when his eyes locked with Sasuke's red ones.

"Hey uh, Sasuke right? Were yer eyes always red? I feel like I would've noticed that before."

Sasuke stared at Tazuna with a blank expression; there was a long pause. "Sorry, there's a piece of straw in your hair, likely from your hat… it's distracting."

Tazuna scratched his head, while Tsunami took a close look at her father's hair; she fished out a tiny strand of black cloth after a good 10 seconds of staring.

She seemed legitimately intrigued. "Wow, Sasuke. How'd you see that from across the table?"

Sasuke wasn't paying attention at this point, he squinted and looked at the overhead light, appearing generally uncomfortable. "It's a bit bright in here, is there a dimmer for the lights?"

Sakura piped in to try and make the situation less awkward. "Sasuke-kun is still getting used to his new eyes."

Tazuna just raised his eyebrow and stared at Sasuke, eventually turning to the food and muttering something about _"weird ninja brats"_ before digging in. Tsunami walked over to the stairs and was about to call up to Inari, but exactly on cue, the boy came down the stairs and walked into the kitchen, he plopped down at the head of the table with a strangely energetic stoicism.

Looking around, Inari turned to Sakura. "Hey, Sakura, where's Naruto and One-Eye-Ninja-Man?"

Sakura pushed the food on her plate in circles and put on a fake smile for Inari. "They're… just handling some business from our mission, they should be back before long."

Inari gave Sakura a strange look, he could obviously tell she was lying. "... If you say so."

Sakura sighed as a reply and picked at her food for what felt like hours, but in reality, the meal had only lasted for about 20 minutes. It was peppered with occasional small talk, but never more than that, It was strange in that the genin weren't experienced enough to have any stories to tell, and the civilians were a bit emotionally drained from the events of that day, with the christening of the Great Naruto Bridge, as well as the ousting of Crimeboss Gato from his seat of power.

Sasuke seemed too absorbed in trying to learn to deactivate his Sharingan to be interested in speaking, so Sakura eventually decided it'd be a good idea to cut her losses in talking to the Uchiha boy and get ready to go to sleep, seeing as Kakashi said they'd need to head back to Konoha in the morning.

Sakura excused herself from the table, exited the kitchen, and climbed the stairs of the dark hallway. She slipped into her room and peeked out the window, and the moon was half full, she absentmindedly scanned the landscape for either Kakashi or Naruto, but after a few seconds, she returned to her task at hand.

The kunoichi grabbed her red and white pajamas, and a travel sized bottle of soap from her backpack, and also a towel. In the process of pulling the towel out of the bag, her wallet popped out and fell to the floor.

Sakura picked it up, but not before examining the picture of Team 7's Official Photo. She stared at it for a few more seconds and groaned, she'd spent nearly half an hour practicing smiles in a mirror for this moment, and while she sat in the center of the photo and beamed, Sasuke and Naruto looked like they were about to fight, the fact that Sakura would literally be caught in the middle seemed to matter little to them.

The wallet went back into Sakura's bag and she stepped back into the hallway, she walked into the bathroom and turned the shower knob. As she waited for the water to heat up, her mind drifted back to the photo of Team 7.

The first moments of her ninja career felt like they were eons ago, even though in reality, it had only been a few months...

* * *

 _Sakura didn't know whether to jump for joy, or go cry in a corner. Sure, she was on the same team as Sasuke, but Naruto too? She just knew she'd be left in the dust immediately after they started training, Naruto was a_ _ **total**_ _weirdo, but it was entirely possible that he was the strongest fighter on their team._

 _On top of that realization, she was rather miffed, their sensei hadn't showed up for nearly thirty minutes, and after literally_ _ **everyone** had_ _left to begin their ninja careers. Sakura was beginning to think that whoever it was probably forgot they had a Genin team._

 _She looked toward Sasuke, who was staring out the window. The way the light was rolling over his face made Sakura smile, so she decided to try her luck talking to him for a few minutes. The kunoichi silently shuffled across the room and sat down next to him._

 _Sasuke gave her a blank stare._

 _Sakura recoiled a tiny bit. "S-sorry. It's just that, you know, since we're on the same team, we should get to know each other better, that's all."_

 _Sasuke raised his eyebrow and returned to staring out the window. Sakura became worried as the pause started to become awkward, surprisingly; Sasuke said something, despite his apparent refusal to make eye contact._

"… _You first."_

 _Sakura sighed inwardly, it wasn't much, but it was progress._

" _We've never officially met Sasuke-kun, but my name is Haruno Sakura, you can call me Sakura… or whatever's more comfortable for you! My favorite color is red and ah… am I annoying you?"_

 _Sasuke inwardly groaned and felt the urge to head-butt the window. His ingrained Uchiha breeding forced him to be at least halfway personable._

"… _Uchiha Sasuke… No, it's just… you seem like you talk a lot… Talking's not my thing."_

 _Sakura felt slightly deflated. "Oh… well… I'll let you do whatever it was you were... doing."_

 _She stared straight ahead for a moment before once again remembering there was a third member of their team. She looked around the room and noticed that Naruto was sitting in the back, looking slightly impatient, but mostly annoyed. The blonde had always been an enigma ever since the day they started in the academy, Sakura had only limited contact with him when they were toddlers, but that was so long ago at this point that she could barely remember any of it._

 _What_ _ **did**_ _stick was the common occurrence of people who always told her to stay away from Naruto, be it her own parents, or her friends, the reasoning for which varied. Some people told her he was dangerous, others said he was a bad influence, while others said he was evil. One thing was notable though, ninja families were a lot nicer to him than civilian families, something important to keep in mind, seeing as Sakura was a first generation ninja in her family. It was likely the ninja families new something that her parents didn't._

 _Sakura narrowed her eyes at Naruto. Strange indeed… usually, no one ever came to pick him up from the academy when the day was done, however, when someone_ _ **did**_ _, it would be a Konoha celebrity. The Hokage himself, or Jiraiya, one of the Legendary Sannin. Not to mention, when they were little, a squad of ANBU would always be watching over him from the shadows, and if not, they'd be out in the open guarding him._

 _Sakura called to the back of the classroom._

" _Naruto, what's with you?"_

 _Naruto groaned and swiveled his eyes to Sakura. "I think I figured out who our teacher is..."_

" _Who is it?"_

 _Sasuke seemed to take interest and turned his head._

" _Ever hear about Kakashi Hatake?"_

 _Sasuke became visibly intrigued by this information, and Sakura in turn, noticed the Uchiha perk up, so she pried further._

" _Yeah, Naruto, he's a famous Jonin, what makes you think it's him?"_

 _Naruto slowly stood from his chair, his voice increased in volume as he stood up all the way._

" _He's late… all the FREAKIN' TIME!"_

 _Just as Naruto finished standing up, the classroom door slid open, a masked man with silver hair sauntered in, his otherwise cool entrance was interrupted by a childish grunt from the back of the room._

 _A chair came flying into Sakura's field of vision, straight at the man's head, it hit him square in the jaw before bouncing off his head and slamming into the sliding door, breaking it off of the track. Their sensei was sent flying into the blackboard, snapping it from its wooden housing on the wall. Sakura nearly had a heart attack, while Sasuke stared on in blank surprise._

 _Inner Sakura screamed in horror._ _ **'NARUTO YOU ASSHAT! NOW WE'LL NEVER HAVE ANYONE TO TEACH US! SHANNAROOOOO!'**_

' _Kakashi' poofed into a plume of smoke, immediately afterward, some more silver hair poked into the classroom._

" _Unpredictable as usual… It's nice to see you too Naruto."_

 _Sasuke and Sakura continued to stare in confusion as Naruto jumped on top of the desk and angrily pointed at Kakashi._

" _TOO BAD I CAN'T SAY THE SAME YA PRICK! I DEMAND A TRANSFER!"_

 _Kakashi rolled his visible eye. "You_ _ **know**_ _that won't work Naruto... You're stuck with me until you die, so I suggest you get used to it."_

 _Kakashi turned to the other two genin in the room and pointed upward. "Let's meet on the roof, yeah? Less things for Naruto to throw at me up there."_

 _Kakashi disappeared in a cloud of white smoke, leaving a fuming Naruto standing in the back of the class._

" _OI! KAKASHI! … THIS IS BULLSHIT!"_

 _Sakura turned to Sasuke. "W-what just happened?"_

 _Sasuke appeared to be opening his mouth to reply, but a growl, followed by the sound of shattering glass and wind interrupted the Uchiha. Naruto was gone, the window was broken, and the room seemed to be another chair short._

 _Sakura called toward the window in the back of the room._

" _Naruto! You can't just get away with destroying academy property like that!"_

 _There was no reply, Naruto was probably already on the roof… Sakura felt even more downtrodden and started making her way to the stairwell with Sasuke._

 _Deep down, Sasuke found the interaction he just witnessed rather entertaining, he smirked and began wall-jumping to reach the roof faster._

 _Sakura sighed and stared upward at Sasuke's acrobatic display, while she wasn't looking forward to running up all those stairs, she_ _ **was**_ _curious about Naruto's relation to this fabled jonin, based on the way they interacted, it was likely an interesting association._

 _Kakashi stared at his new genin charges with a mild interest, primarily because he found it interesting that the council decided to put both Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha on the same team. Kakashi could have even said that he was excited to see how the two boys would progress; the two strongest students in the entire year were both placed on his team. One was a prodigy, a legend in the making; the other… he was more of a child-shaped battering ram._

 _After taking a second look at his two new students, Kakashi almost laughed... almost. There was Naruto, who had a juvenile pout smeared across his face, Sasuke, who was brooding off to the side, and Sakura, who appeared depressed for some reason. It was disturbingly similar to Kakashi's own genin team, he just hoped they all wouldn't turn out the same way._

 _Kakashi, being the troll he was, decided to rock the boat a little bit._

"… _So I got saddled with you clowns... I guess I've hit rock bottom."_

 _Naruto ceased his pouting and smirked at Kakashi, he then looked at Sakura and Sasuke, who weren't as familiar with the silver-haired jonin._

 _Sasuke scoffed and glared at his teacher. "That's really not my problem, I'll just transfer off this team if you have nothing to teach me."_

 _Sakura crossed her arms, sticking her tongue out at the older man._

" _Relax, we're stuck together for the time being, so we should probably make an effort to understand each other… What are your likes, dislikes, and dreams? You first Naruto, and you can't say orange, ramen, or training."_

 _Naruto crossed his arms and pretended to think for a second. "I like training, ramen, and orange things!"_

 _Kakshi grabbed the bridge of his nose. "Naruto, switching the order around doesn't change anything."_

 _Naruto shrugged. "I don't have anything else! Honestly, what'd you expect? …since you seem to know me so well already… Mr. Copycat Ninja. "_

 _Kakashi sighed and leaned against the guardrail. "Naruto, give me something I_ _ **don't**_ _know about you, this is just as much for me as it is for your teammates. So, I'll ask again, what_ _ **else**_ _do you like?"_

 _It was obvious that there were some gears turning in Naruto's head, he finally spoke after a short silence._

 _He looked toward his pink-haired teammate and gave her a mischievous grin. "I like… girls with pink hair and fiery personalities."_

 _Sakura's eyes widened and she silently turned to stare at Naruto… who had quickly switched his smile to an equally blank expression as Sakura's, likely to mess with her. Sasuke's eyes swiveled toward Sakura to see how she'd react, Kakashi's eye was also pointed in the girl's direction._

 _Sakura's expression slowly contorted from surprise, to annoyance, she could never tell if the blonde was joking or not whenever he "flirted" with her... and "flirt" was a term that she used loosely when Naruto was the topic of conversation._

 _Naruto built on the situation and smirked at Sasuke. "I suppose I_ _ **dislike**_ _people who take themselves too seriously."_

 _Kakashi could hear Sasuke's knuckles crack when his hand clamped down into a fist._

 _Then, Naruto turned to Kakashi. "My dream? I'm gonna be Hokage, dattebayo!"_

 _Kakashi waved Naruto off. "Right then… Naruto, please don't antagonize your teammates."_

 _Naruto rolled his eyes and smirked. "Sooo… Do as you say, not as you do, is that right?"_

 _Kakashi silently stared at Naruto for a few seconds; he suddenly used his big toe to flick an errant fragment of gravel at Naruto's forehead protector. It ricocheted off of the metal and flew off into the sky, having hit Naruto hard enough to make him lose his balance and fall backwards._

 _Kakashi immediately swiveled his eye to the girl in question. She was slightly pink in the face; from what Kakashi could gather, Naruto pressing her buttons was a common occurrence. She sighed and crossed her arms, opting to stare at the Konoha skyline until it was her turn._

" _Alright, you next, Uchiha."_

 _Sasuke eyed Kakashi indifferently, and with a furrow of the brow, he answered Kakashi's standard introductory questions._

" _I'm Uchiha Sasuke. I like…"_

 _Sasuke froze in thought, he couldn't really think of anything he truly enjoyed doing, so he just opted to skip that one for the time being._

"… _I dislike a lot of things, it'd be ungainly for me to rattle them all off right now, but my dream for the future is simple. I wish to avenge the massacre of the Uchiha clan and maybe, restore it to its former state."_

 _Kakashi narrowed his eye at Sasuke and gave him a kernel of advice. "I'm not going to tell you to give up seeking justice for your family, but you're headed toward a slippery slope… If you let your desire for revenge consume you, I can guarantee that pursuing it will destroy you in the process, regardless of whether or not you actually succeed in your endeavors. Just… do yourself a favor and find something that you can come back to when all is said and done."_

 _Sasuke stared back at his teacher. "None of that matters to me. It's just something I have to do, regardless of my fate."_

 _Kakashi smirked beneath his mask. "Let me rephrase then… Sasuke, forget failure, what if you succeed? Then what? Will you just shut down once you've fulfilled your ambition?"_

 _Sasuke got a strange look about him, but he appeared to at least somewhat consider the truth in Kakshi's words._

 _Sasuke narrowed his eyes and stared directly at his new sensei. "One more thing… I've heard all sorts of stories about you, Kakashi, one of which sounds rather interesting… What's your other eye look like?"_

 _Kakashi raised his visible eyebrow, upon closer observation, there was a strange twinkle in the man's eye, he summarily replied._

" _If I showed you, I'd probably be trying to kill you... Perhaps later down the road when I'm feeling more forthcoming. First, I'd like to make sure you three can at least pass my first test. It'd be a waste if I invested in you and then had to send you all back to the academy for failing your secondary examination."_

 _Sasuke backed down, but maintained his suspicious demeanor for the remainder of the meeting._

 _Naruto scratched his head in confusion, thinking to himself. 'Secondary examination?'_

 _Kakashi nodded at Naruto and then gestured at Sakura. "Alright then, how about you pinky? Same question."_

 _The girl nodded._

" _I'm Sakura Haruno, I like… um… nevermind! I dislike perverts, and spicy food… As for my dreams for the future…"_

 _Sakura quickly glanced at Sasuke and then straight ahead._

" _I-I'd rather not say that aloud! … but it's nothing out of the ordinary or anything! … Actually it's rather tame by comparison…"_

 _Kakashi looked at Naruto, who was absentmindedly staring at a Kunai that he was spinning around his index finger._

" _Hey, Naruto."_

" _Hm?" Naruto dug in his ear and looked at Kakashi._

" _Team 7 will be taking the bell test tomorrow morning at 7:00 sharp in the 7_ _th_ _training area, for the sake of easy memory... Tell Sasuke and Sakura about it, I've got to go reserve the training grounds and whatnot, and also… Try not to eat breakfast… otherwise, you'll puke."_

 _Naruto jumped to his feet. "Wait, What? … Crap."_

 _With that, Kakashi poofed into a white plume of smoke, and Naruto turned to his teammates._

 _Naruto glared at the dissipating plume of smoke before turning his attention to Sasuke and Sakura. "'Kay… So, we're taking the bell test tomorrow, I've done this a few times before so I'll give you the gist of it. We just gotta steal some bells from Kakashi before a timer runs out, it's a head-on fight, anything goes."_

 _Sakura gave Naruto a tired glare. "If it's so simple did you really need to tell us that?"_

 _Naruto's suddenly darkened visage had instantly changed the tone of the situation, he stared at the open space right in-between Sasuke and Sakura, he had a grim expression._

" _I guess… It's just… I'd train with Kakashi every once in a while when I was little and we'd do the bell test... I never completed it, not even once… I couldn't so much as touch him and it was obvious that he wasn't even trying."_

 _The wind blew and made Naruto's serious face seem almost ethereal, Sasuke and Sakura got an eerie chill._

 _The blonde turned around and looked at Konoha's skyline. "… He's setting us up to fail."_

 _Sakura paused. "Well, we'll just have to work together to complete the test."_

 _Sasuke shook his head. "I don't think we can beat an elite Jonin even if we hit him with everything we have at the same time."_

 _Naruto walked closer and crouched in front of his sitting teammates. "So, how do you approach a fight you can't win?"_

 _Sasuke replied. "There's gotta be a catch, something that we're not accounting for."_

 _Sakura pushed forth a suggestion. "I suppose we won't know until we take the test tomorrow, there're probably some details he'll fill us in on when we get to the training grounds."_

 _Naruto agreed. "I think you're right Sakura! Maybe he'll change something about the test to accommodate three people!"_

 _Sasuke spoke underneath his breath, deeply skeptical of the situation at hand._

" _Maybe…"_

* * *

It was here that Sakura realized that the bathroom was filling with steam; she shook her head and hopped in, making sure to scrub the grunge from every inch of her skin. They had to attend a celebration in the village directly after the battle, so they had to put off any sort of rest until they returned to Tazuna's house, this was the first chance Sakura had to sit and reflect on the team's first real mission.

Sakura's mind drifted to the aftermath of the fight between Team 7 and Zabuza… Sasuke lying there, seemingly dead, a battered Naruto, silently cradling the body of one of their enemies, and the seemingly invincible Kakashi of all people, was hunched over clutching his bleeding chest. There was a bloody gash that seemed to be shallow, if only because of his khaki armored vest that so many Konoha ninja wore.

Sakura looked down at the minor scrapes and bruises on her forearms and shins, and she felt strange, considering the fact that she'd been on an A-Rank mission. With regards to what Sakura knew about high-ranking missions, all the returning ninja she'd seen in town hall were either battered and bruised, or hung their heads in defeat, which was likely a sign that the team lost members in the field.

Sakura exhaled and watched the steam float around the bathroom; it spread across the ceiling at a leisurely pace. She paused for a moment, continuing to stare at the ceiling, her mind drifted to Naruto, and by extension Kakashi. She started to wonder what they would talk about, since, from what she could tell, they seemed to know each other quite well.

Sakura took her bottle of soap and lathered some of it into her hair, she muttered to herself. "So this is a day in the life of a Shinobi?"

* * *

"Yes, Naruto, it is." Kakashi replied.

Naruto looked to Kakashi and pondered the question for a bit longer, he truly wondered if such pain was par for the course. The blonde looked out toward the huge crop field and sighed, then, he turned to his teacher and inquired.

" _Life of a shinobi..._ Kakashi-sensei, what was yours?"

The silver-haired jonin raised his eyebrow. "How do you mean?"

Naruto elaborated on his question. "Based on what you said, this sort of ordeal happens to every shinobi at some point in their career… what was yours?"

Kakashi's eye took on a solemn expression, and he stared at the ground for a moment.

"I don't like to talk about it, but given the circumstances… I'll just give you the short version."

Naruto turned slightly. "If you don't feel like it, it's fine, everyone has their inner demons... I would know."

Kakashi narrowed his eye at Naruto. "Hm... Yes, they do."

There was a long stretch of silence while the two ninja stared at the horizon on the crop field.

"… Obito and Rin."

Naruto rubbed his eyes, they were starting to feel itchy and dry. "Were they your friends?"

Kakashi nodded.

"When I was young, I was placed on a team, much like this one in fact. Our sensei would later go on to become the 4th Hokage, that aside… I lost them. First went Obito, he died in order to save me… His dying wish… he told me to protect Rin for him, he loved her, and he never got to say it to her… In the end, I couldn't even do that for him.

Kakashi frowned. " _Rin_... she died just a few short months afterward."

Naruto's defeated eyes seemed to look right through Kakashi. "I see."

The Jonin turned around and began walking back to Tazuna's house, but not before offering another kernel of thought.

"Naruto, I wouldn't call it a rite of passage, seeing as I'd never wish such a thing on anyone. However, any ninja who's been around long enough has had a defining moment like this."

Naruto's posture perked up a tiny bit. "Defining moment?"

Kakashi stopped walking, his back was still to Naruto. "Yup, and I think this is yours. This may haunt you until the end, but it will also fuel you to achieve your goals, **this will be what you** _ **fight for.**_ **"**

Naruto smirked a tiny bit and let and examined a falling leaf. "… Sakura-chan told me the same thing."

"Well she's right. Just give yourself some time to process this."

"… Thanks, Kakashi-sensei."

The boy sat down on the grassy hill and continued staring out over the vast field, he sensed his teacher's presence begin to fade as the man grew farther away. It was here that Naruto began to think about how he got to this point, the convoluted chain of events that had been his life so far.

"Team 7..." Naruto's mind continued to drift to their first outing as a team… Kakashi's dreaded bell test.

* * *

 _The sun was just barely peeking over the horizon as Sasuke and Sakura sat in silence. They'd gone to training ground 7, at 7:00 sharp to wait for their sensei, however, if he showed up anytime soon, that'd be both a miracle, and a problem…_

 _Naruto was nowhere in sight, and neither was Kakashi, Sasuke, while visibly miffed, appeared to be meditating quietly under the shade of the oak tree. Sakura awkwardly sat next to Sasuke, far too terrified to say anything to him, truth be told, she was thankful for the absence of both their third teammate, and their teacher. However, Sakura found herself unable to come up with something to say, it had been nearly 40 minutes of silence between them._

 _Sakura was completely thrown for a loop when it was Sasuke who eventually broke the silence._

"… _I don't think we should stick around much longer if this is going to be the case."_

 _Saukra froze and turned her head to face Sasuke, who was suddenly staring at her. Her face turned pink and she made a sequence of sounds that didn't resemble any sort of language._

 _Sasuke stared at Sakura blankly, he raised his eyebrow after a few seconds._

" _Beg pardon?"_

 _Sakura twitched and sighed. "S-sorry, you just startled me, that's all."_

 _Sasuke crossed his arms and sighed. "Right… Well, I'm leaving, I'll see you later."_

 _Sasuke stood up and stretched, Sakura shot up as well, suddenly realizing that her "alone time" with Sasuke was rapidly coming to an end. She prepared to blurt out the first thing that came to her mind, but was cut off by a loud rustling in the trees._

 _Sasuke looked up to see a flash of orange come crashing down on him; Naruto had jumped out of the tree and sat on Sasuke's shoulders._

" _Come on Mr. Sunshine! You forgot to kiss your girlfriend goodbye!"_

 _Sasuke growled. "GET OFF ME!" He judo-flipped Naruto and slammed him into the grass._

 _Sakura gasped. "Naruto?! You were here the whole time?!"_

 _Naruto chuckled. "Yeah! I got here early so I decided to take a nap, I'd figured Kakashi-sensei would be late anyway, so why not?"_

 _Sasuke picked leaves and twigs out of his hair as he addressed Naruto. "You touch me again, I'll break your arms."_

 _Naruto grinned. "That a threat? 'Cause I don't think you can pull that off."_

 _Sasuke glared at Naruto. "No, it's not a threat… it's a promise."_

 _Sakura could feel the air begin to chill as the two boys stared each other down, at that very moment, Kakashi appeared in a puff of white smoke, he appeared to be reading a yellow book of some sort._

" _What's up?"_

 _Naruto and Sakura glared at their teacher, screeching in unison. "YOU'RE LATE!"_

" _AGAIN." Naruto added on the end._

 _Kakashi shrugged. "Meh, better late than never… Ready?"_

 _The three genin affirmed in their various ways, Sakura with a determined nod, Naruto stood akimbo and puffed out his chest, and Sasuke just stared up at his teacher._

"… _Right then. Here's how this is gonna work."_

 _Kakashi closed his book and stuck it in his pouch, he pulled out a pair of bells and attached them to his beltloop._

" _Now then, Naruto has taken this test before, however, he took it by himself. Truth is, that was a modified version of this test, the real one is actually a_ _ **team**_ _exercise. Now, to pass this test, you have to acquire a bell from me,_ _ **by any means necessary**_ _. Bombs, poison gas, ninjutsu, etcetera, use_ _ **everything**_ _in your arsenal. If you cant get a bell by noon today, you'll fail, and be sent back to the academy."_

 _The three genin widened their eyes in disbelief._

 _Sakura was the first to break the silence. "But… You've only got two bells."_

 _Kakashi eye smiled. "Observant… At most, only two of you will be able to pass this test, and that's the best case scenario."_

 _Sakura's heart sank._ _ **'SHANNAROOOOOO! Those bastards! They're just trying to weed me out so he'll be able to devote more time to Sasuke-kun and Naruto!'**_

 _Naruto, gave Kakashi a very suspicious glare. "Something's off here."_

 _Kakashi raised his eyebrow. "Okay then, I'll throw you all a bone."_

 _The jonin picked up a stick from beneath the tree and jumped out into the open field some distance away._

 _He used the stick to draw a decently large circle, probably about 50 feet in diameter, he yelled over to his young charges as he pulled out that same yellow book._

" _Here's the deal! I won't leave this circle! I'd have made it smaller, but I know how our Uchiha friend here likes to play with fire."_

 _Sasuke became confused while he thought to himself. 'Nobody should know that I can use fire-style yet! How the hell does he know that?'_

 _Kakashi pointed off to the side, his genin looked toward what appeared to be a sturdy alarm clock sitting on top of a log post._

 _Kakashi yelled over once more. "When that bell rings, the test begins!"_

 _Naruto squinted and could see that it was about 90 seconds to 8 o'clock. He walked over to the edge of the circle and tossed off his orange jacket and took off his ninja-sandals, he placed them next to each other and rolled up his pant-legs to just below the knees. It was here that_ _Naruto began stretching out his hamstrings and shoulders with a confident grin plastered on his face._

" _You might wanna put your porno away this time around, I'm not a toddler anymore!"_

 _Kakashi's nose was still in his book when he replied. "Oh really? Could've fooled me."_

 _Naruto growled and made 3 shadow-clones, they all took three-point stances and waited for the bell to ring. Sasuke and Sakura stared in confusion as their teammate brazenly challenged their legendary sensei head-on._

 _Sakura whispered to Sasuke. "He doesn't really think he can beat Kakashi-sensei in a fight, does he?"_

 _Sasuke turned and began walking into the forest. "He's an idiot, I wouldn't be surprised if he did."_

 _With that, Sasuke darted off into the forest, leaving Sakura with a mouthful of dust from the dirt road next the oak tree. She looked back and forth between Naruto and the direction Sasuke went in, trying to decide who to follow._

" _Crap." Sakura cursed and finally jumped into the woods to find Sasuke after about two minutes of deliberation._

 _The bell rang out across the clearing and the test had officially began._

 _Naruto gave Kakashi a smug grin before yelling out his lone order for his shadow-clones._

"I'll show you, ya perv! _Heh! **GO FOR THE BOOK!** "_

 _Kakashi's eyebrow went up an inch or two after hearing the verbal command._

" _Ah, crap."_

 _The jonin, having not planned for Naruto to do something this far out of the box, decided to play it safe and stuff the book into his ninja-pouch._

 _The 4 Narutos dashed toward Kakashi at an alarming speed, weaving across, in front of, and behind each other in order to create some sort of confusion. Kakashi made it a point to keep an eye on the two bells so that Naruto or any of his clones wouldn't get their hands on any of them._

 _One of the clones jumped into the air and aimed a kick at Kakashi's chest, while another one came around from behind and attempted to take out the man's legs. Kakashi caught one Naruto's foot and jumped into the air, dodging the leg-sweep. He could feel another Naruto going for his book-pouch, so he used the Naruto in his grasp as a club and slammed their heads together._

 _They both dispelled and the other two Naruto's growled and charged in. Kakashi took the bells off of his beltloop and tossed them to one of the Narutos, he caught it and gave his teacher a confused look._

 _Out of nowhere, another Kakashi shot out of the ground and simultaneously body slammed the two Narutos while also taking the bells back. The Kakashi without the bells dispelled and the one with the bells placed them back on his beltloop._

 _Suddenly, both of the downed Naruto's dispelled, Kakshi smirked beneath his mask as he heard a barrage of shuriken and kunai fly from a nearby tree. Kakashi dodged all of the kunai and Shuriken, and suddenly, the grounded throwing weapons all turned into Naruto shadow-clones, the man was surrounded._

 _Kakashi chuckled a tiny bit. "Oh, that's cute."_

 _He immediately began beating the tar out of the army of clones, having dispelled the lot of them in about 20 seconds._

 _Naruto sat in the tree line scratching his head. "How the hell am I supposed to do this?"_

 _After a few minutes, a mischievous grin wormed its way across Naruto's face._

 _Naruto jumped out of the tree and landed in Kakashi's circle, he made a single shadow-clone motioned toward Kakashi, they both charged the jonin in a single file line._

 _Kakashi dropped into a defensive stance, knowing full well that Naruto was up to something outlandish. The clone in front slowed down slightly and made a grab for the bells. Kakashi caught its wrist and pushed it to the side to throw the clone's balance off-center._

 _Naruto smirked and did a forward handspring, using the top of his clone's head to plant his hands. He somersaulted over Kakashi and charged toward the bells Kakashi prepared to aim a kick at Naruto's stomach, but he noticed something in his rather limited peripheral vision…_

 _There was an explosive tag placed on the top of the shadow-clone's head. The clone in question grinned and latched onto Kakashi's leg._

" _Naruto, what the fu-"_

* * *

 _An explosion rocked the clearing, the shockwave caused Sakura to fall out of the tree she was watching from. She immediately shot back to her feet when she hit the ground; she stared at the smoke and fire in horror._

 _She could hear a faint scream become louder as an ecstatic Naruto came crashing through the trees, he skidded through the grass and slammed into a tree stump, Sakura then ran over to check if Naruto was okay._

 _Naruto jumped to his feet and frantically began looking around, Sakura came rushing over, completely hysterical._

" _Are you okay? How do you not have a scratch on you? Wh-"_

 _Naruto slammed his hand over Sakura's mouth. "Shhhhh! He might find us!"_

 _Sakura peeled Naruto's hand off of her mouth. "He said he'd stay in the circle."_

 _Naruto looked at the fire in the clearing. "Well, the circle's gone now… and I'm fine, it takes more than an explosion to kill me!"_

 _Sakura gave Naruto a strange look. "So why're you so happy about getting blown up?"_

 _Naruto continued looking around. "I managed to grab one of the bells, but the fall knocked it out of my hand."_

 _Sakura lit up. "Really? That's amazing!"_

 _Naruto shrugged. "Not really. I had to blow myself up to get it, sooo, not exactly something I'd pride myself on."_

 _It was here that Sasuke jumped from above and landed next to the group._

" _Sasuke-kun?"_

 _Sasuke looked toward Naruto. "So you managed to grab a bell?"_

 _Naruto was obviously annoyed as he searched the immediate area for the tiny bell._

" _Yeah! I got it so it's mine, if you want it you'll have to fight me for it!"_

 _Sasuke reached into his pocket. "Is this one of them?"_

 _He pulled out a singed and dented bell, and flipped it up in the air. Naruto turned to Sasuke and glared._

" _Give that back, now."_

 _Sasuke crossed his arms. "I don't feel very inclined to do that, seeing as you've been antagonizing me since I day one."_

 _Sakura sheepishly stepped between the two boys. "Please, we can't be fighting like this or we'll all fail for sure!"_

 _Naruto growled. "Know what? Fine. I'll just take it back the fun way!"_

 _Sasuke dropped into an Uchiha-style stance. "Come get it, dobe!"_

 _Naruto charged Sasuke and Sakura stepped further in-between the boys; this made Naruto skid to a halt, or at lest he try to._

 _Naruto crashed into Sakura, then, they crashed into Sasuke, which then sent the genin tumbling down a hill into a muddy ditch._

 _There was a loud splash and Team 7 was covered in muddy water. Sakura sat there and pouted while Sasuke and Naruto began punching and kicking each other in a comical fight over the single bell._

 _Immediately, Kakashi appeared and smacked both Naruto and Sasuke's foreheads together. They recoiled and fell into the mud, this time, losing track of the bell._

 _Kakashi looked at Naruto as he tried to stand up. "Genin aren't allowed to purchase explosive tags. How'd you get them?"_

 _Naruto struggled to his feet. "Stole'em."_

 _Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "At least your honest… Well, you guys failed. The only one who even came close to passing was Sakura, she tried to stop you two from fighting each other."_

 _Naruto scraped some mud out of his ear. "But I got a bell!"_

 _Kakashi crossed his arms. "That wasn't the point of the exercise."_

 _Sasuke looked up at Kakashi. "Then what was? You told us it was a team exercise, then made it impossible for us to work together."_

 _Kakashi nodded. "Exactly. I don't expect you all to actually take a bell from me, exploding clones aside; the point was for you all to work together. Apparently you all can't even do that right."_

 _Sakura piped in. "So now what?"_

 _Kakashi didn't reply, he did a few quick hand-signs and white feathers began to fall from above. Suddenly, the genin felt an overwhelming need to sleep; they immediately collapsed to the ground._

* * *

 _When Naruto woke up, he couldn't move at all. He looked around and realized that he was tied to a post._

"SHIT _!"_

 _Naruto struggled and squirmed against the ropes, and it wasn't like he could do the escape jutsu, his hands were locked at his sides, so hand-signs were out of the question._

" _Dammit! KAKASHI! UNTIE ME YOU PRICK!"_

 _Suddenly, a voice came from the other side of the post._

" _Would you stop squirming? You're not the only one tied to this post, moron. You're giving me rope-burn."_

 _Naruto growled. "This is your fault! If you'd just given me my bell, I would've helped you get the other one!"_

 _Sasuke smirked. "Really? Are you sure you wouldn't have just gloated and forced us to do it on our own?"_

 _Naruto took a breath, but then refrained from saying anything._

 _Sasuke continued on. "Seems to me like you're so concerned with showing me up, that you forget what's important."_

 _Naruto growled. "You don't know me."_

 _The Uchiha rolled his eyes. "As if I'd want to."_

 _Naruto sighed. "Maybe we got off on the wrong foot, since we're going back to the academy, I guess we'll be seeing a lot more of each other… Truce?"_

 _Sasuke sighed as well. "Yeah… Sorry."_

 _Naruto chuckled._

 _Sasuke turned his head. "What's so funny?"_

" _You were on a roll there with your verbal beatdown! I'd figured apologies would come later!"_

 _Sasuke smirked, but only a little bit. "I'm just being the bigger person, maybe you should consider getting on my level."_

 _Naruto frowned. "… Right. How about we try and get out of this?"_

 _Sasuke concurred. "Maybe we could try to rip the post out of the ground?"_

 _Naruto knocked on the wood and listened closely. "Maybe, but it sounds like it's pretty deep in the ground, we might be too short for that to work."_

 _Sasuke looked around and continued thinking, there was a long pause before Naruto broke the silence._

" _Hey, where's Sakura-chan?"_

 _Sasuke looked around, but failed to spot the pink-haired girl._

" _Up here." A feminine voice came from above their heads._

 _Naruto struggled, but by putting his head at an awkward angle, he was able to see above him. Sakura was sitting on the top of the log, eating a bento._

 _Naruto raised his eyebrow. "Why didn't you say so?"_

 _Sakura became nervous. "Kakashi-sensei said that he'd fail me if I fed you or allowed you to escape."_

 _Naruto was genuinely surprised. "Huh. That's strange."_

 _Sasuke spoke up as well. "Why wouldn't he just guard us himself? Maybe this is another test."_

" _Yeah, what he said. Sakura-chan, pleeeeease can you help us out of this?"_

 _Sakura crossed her arms. "I don't know Naruto… This may be my only chance to become a kunoichi. I'm not as strong as you two are, so the council will probably make an exception for you two, I don't have that luxury."_

 _Naruto pouted. "If not for me, then do it for your boyfriend over here."_

" _I'm not her boyfriend."_

 _Naruto grinned. "Really? With the way she looks at you, I really wouldn't know. I'm an idiot when it comes to lovey-dovey stuff."_

 _Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Yeah, among other things…"_

 _Naruto turned his head. "What're you tryin' to say?"_

" _What do you think, dumbass?"_

 _Naruto looked up to Sakura and pouted. "Sakura, if you do this for us, I promise we'll get you on a team with us wherever we end up after this, okay?"_

 _Sakura looked down at Naruto with a suspicious glare, she raised her eyebrow._

 _Naruto turned his head. "Sasuke-teme, promise her!"_

 _Sasuke chose to comply. "Yes. Sakura, if Naruto and I get pushed through the system anyway, I'll make sure you end up on the same team as us."_

 _There was a long pause, Naruto and Sasuke waited in earnest anticipation for her decision._

 _She finally spoke. "Nice work, you two."_

 _Naruto frowned for a second at Sakura's reply, but then, his face lit up, Sasuke appeared surprised when he too realized what was going on._

' _Sakura' jumped down from the post, and in a poof of smoke, she revealed herself as Kakashi._

 _Naruto looked at Kakashi in confusion. "So where's the real Sakura?"_

 _Kakashi pointed his thumb over his shoulder. "She's over there, I had her sit just outside your field of vision."_

 _Naruto could vaguely see a ping and red splotch on the very edge of his peripheral vision when he turned his head all the way to the left._

 _Sasuke chimed in. "Now what?"_

 _Kakashi eye-smiled and replied. "Now, I've gotta start planning out your training. I've never had a genin team get this far before. So I'm as new at this as you are!"_

 _Naruto cleared his throat. "Soooo… You gonna untie us?"_

 _Kakashi stroked his chin. "Nah… Consider this your first training exercise. Escapology 101: Hatake-style."_

 _Naruto muttered under his breath. "God-dammit."_

 _Kakashi put up his hand and eye-smiled once more. "Good luck, you two!"_

* * *

Naruto pushed the memory from his mind and stretched his limbs out on the grassy hill. He smiled, and looking up at the starry sky and reaching his hand up toward it, he grasped his hand over the brightest star in the sky.

"Haku-chan… There were things I never got to tell you, I'm sure there were things you never got to tell me… I may not believe in fate, but I do think that things happen for a reason. Are you up there? … Watching? … Until now, I didn't have much of a reason to forge my way toward my dream… Now, I think I know why I met you… Now, I think I know why I want to be the Hokage."

Naruto took a breath and released his grip on the starry sky.

"You always said that the people around you gave you purpose, but I think it was the other way around, you just didn't notice… Haku-chan, I want to protect the people most important to me, and by working toward becoming the Hokage, I can protect them in ways that I wouldn't be available otherwise… I won't fail them like I failed you… I owe you everything… I just wish I could have spent more time with you before…"

Naruto trailed off and let his hand fall to his side, he took a breath gave the heavens a defeated smile.

' _This is the life of a shinobi.'_

 **FIN**

* * *

AN: Sorry for getting all angsty on you guys, but this is an important part of my Naruto's character development. Bad news, this story will have a pretty spread out release schedule, the good news is, each chapter can be read as a standalone snapshot of Naruto's early life, so there won't be any sorts of cliffhangers to piss you off. As mentioned on the top AN, all of the prologue orange chapters are self-contained, and as a rule, they'll be approximately 10,000 words in length. Maybe more depending on my mood…

If you've finished this wanting more, check out my other fic (Naruto Uzumaki: The Orange Flash), to which this story is a prequel.

I was going to release this at the same time as Orange Flash: Chapter 36, but I think I'm going to re-write it, as it doesn't quite feel up to snuff as far a humor and pacing goes. Sorry about that, readers, but you can't rush progress.

Thanks to everyone who made this a reality, and I'll see you all really soon.

 _Signin' Off_

 _~Breath of the Wiz_


	2. Chapter 2: Down the Shadowed River

AN: Back with a vengeance. This is a seriously long chapter, and in it you'll get to see a few flashes of Naruto's relationship with Haku. I was initially going to cover all of their interactions in one chapter, but I thought it was a better idea to spread them out a bit more as he begins to move on. Also, I'm going to start bringing Naruto and Sasuke up as friends, even more so than canon Part 1 (it'll make the Valley of the End even more gut wrenching :D muahahaha). I think Naruto would have been more emotionally charged if Naruto and Sasuke leaned more toward friends than rivals, but that's why fanfiction exists. Last, but not least, I'm going to start building up the love triangle within Team 7, since it always felt like an afterthought in canon. Anyway, enjoy!

* * *

The morning sun tickled Sasuke's eyes as slowly fluttered open. He was awake, yet he remained in that very spot for several minutes. His entire body was screaming at him, the multitude of puncture wounds sustained from Haku's needles made him grunt and groan as he slowly rose to a sitting position.

There was a particularly deep channel in his left shoulder, it had bled through his bandages overnight, slightly staining his navy and white sleeping bag with a small speck of blood.

The Uchiha pressed down on the puncture would, it was both a dull and sharp pain, due in part to the torn muscle and swelling, but no more blood came out of the afflicted shoulder. Sasuke took this to mean that the wound itself had clotted successfully.

Sasuke thought back to the night before… Naruto had returned from the ceremony, looking… _broken_. He was a glaring speck of stoicism within a sea of jubilant villagers. His royal blue eyes had then appeared almost as if they were navy in color, and his posture was sunken to a pathetic slouch. Seeing Naruto like this made Sasuke reflect on how he himself dealt with the Uchiha Massacre.

Sasuke's memories concerning it were extremely muddled, he could, at the moment, only remember a few key pieces concerning what exactly had happened that night, only one stretch of time stuck firmly in his mind, no matter how hard the rest was to remember. It involved the days following the massacre…

From what Sasuke could recall, he was unable to speak for weeks, he'd open his mouth to scream, but nothing would come out. It made him shudder, pushing the thoughts from his mind, he groaned and stood to his feet, looking out the window. Still, he was unable to keep his mind off of the massacre and the ensuing aftermath, he could see through the small glass opening, that Naruto was sitting outside on Tazuna's front lawn, he head was hanging as he absentmindedly pulled grass out of the ground.

Sasuke struggled to the door and limped out into the hallway, he saw Sakura brushing her hair in the bathroom, she noticed him in the mirror and smiled, turning to greet him, but he paid it no mind. He walked past her and down the stairs.

The kitchen was busy, with Kakashi assisting Tsunami and Inari in preparing breakfast for everyone. He moved silently so that they didn't notice him going for the door, however, Kakashi made eye-contact with Sasuke for a split second before returning to frying some eggs.

He silently opened the door and strolled onto the front lawn, he stopped and stood there, staring at Naruto, who slowly became aware of the Uchiha heir's presence.

Surprisingly, Sasuke spoke first. "You saved my life… Thanks."

Naruto looked at his teammate with dull eyes. "We're teammates… Don't mention it."

Upon observing Naruto closer, Sasuke could see that his eyes had rings around them, he likely didn't sleep much at all.

Sasuke cocked his head to the side. "… You… look the same way I did after my family… What exactly happened while I was out?"

Naruto took a shaky breath and wiped his eyes before he replied. "That girl we fought… turns out she and I knew each other… She was… important to me… S-she didn't make it."

Sasuke's expression remained blank, but he walked over and sat about 4 feet in front of Naruto, facing him. "So you understand then… what it's like to lose something important to you?"

Naruto shook his head. "I'm not sure… The way I felt about her was… different somehow..."

"Did you love her?"

Naruto gave Sasuke a pained smile. "In hindsight, I wouldn't be surprised if I did…"

Sasuke looked out toward the lake. "This sort of thing sticks with you. Finding some sort of resolve to keep you going keeps their faces out of my mind… Did she say anything to you before she died?"

Naruto looked down and shook his head. "A little... she would always go on about how you could only become truly strong when you're fighting for more than just yourself… She would have understood you pretty well, she was an orphan, like us… her clan was wiped out by the civil war… Even so, what would I know about how you feel? I mean, we're both orphans, but I never had a family to begin with."

Sasuke replied succinctly. "True…"

Naruto trailed off and leaned back, spreading out on the grass to stare at the sky.

"Oi, Sasuke."

"Hn."

"You said I should find a resolve to work toward, right?"

"It's what keeps me functioning."

"… I wanna be Hokage."

Sasuke looked at Naruto, raising his eyebrow. "… I know that… But, you should go with something that's related to what happened on that bridge yesterday."

Naruto reached his hand up to the morning sky. "Exactly… When we introduced ourselves I said I was _**going to**_ be Hokage."

Sasuke remained skeptical. "... Difference being?"

"Now, I _**want to**_ be Hokage."

Sasuke nodded in understanding. "Take it and run with it then. Otherwise… I'll be Hokage."

Naruto sprung to his feet and stared down his teammate. "Those are fightin' words, _teme_!"

Sasuke fiddled with some of his bandages. "So you've still got some fight in you… Good, I thought you were broken or something."

The blonde realized that his teammate was only trying to get a rise out of him, so he opted to sit back down on the lawn. Sasuke was about to speak again, but there was a creaking noise, Sakura was poking her head out of the front door, staring at her teammates. The Uchiha groaned and turned away from the house, so that his back was to his female teammate.

Naruto simply stared at her as she approached them.

"I'm… not interrupting anything, am I? I was just wondering if you two were doing okay… you know, all things considered."

Naruto shook his head, while Sasuke started playing with the grass. There was a long silence, as Sakura was deathly afraid of speaking, she could tell that both Naruto and Sasuke were probably talking about something important and she may have unintentionally screwed it up. When she saw Sasuke in the mirror, he had a strange look on his face, he almost appeared sad. This piqued her interest, so she went to the window in his room once she realized that he had left the house. She could see him talking with Naruto about something, but in her excitement to find out what it was, she waltzed over without thinking, and now, it was too late to take it back.

She looked at Sasuke, who's back was turned, Sakura could tell that he wasn't too keen on talking at the moment, so she turned to Naruto, who was staring at the sky.

"Hey, Naruto?"

"Sakura-chan."

Sakura twitched at the distinct lack of warmth in Naruto's voice. "Hey, uh… how are you feeling?"

"… Same as yesterday, I guess…"

Sasuke suddenly piped in, sounding a bit annoyed. "Bugging him about it every day won't help. Leave him alone."

Sakura shrunk and her eyes bounced back and forth between the two boys, Sasuke was always distant, but with Naruto being somewhat aloof as well, she was beginning to seriously regret coming outside.

Naruto looked at his pink-haired teammate and gave her a tiny smile when she turned to him.

"It's okay Sakura-chan, I know you're trying to help, but you've done more than enough. Speaking to you was just what I needed right then and there… now I just need some time with my thoughts, that's all… Sasuke was just offering his own take on things."

Sakura brightened up a bit and nodded before rising to her feet. "... chan?" She took note of the relatively new honorific for a moment before finishing her thought. "...No problem. Sorry for butting in… Breakfast will be ready soon, and Sasuke-kun, I left you some more bandages on your dresser."

Sasuke turned and nodded before looking back toward the lake, his pink-haired teammate sighed, cursing her lack of discretion in entering the situation. Sakura gave a slight bow before scurrying back inside, Naruto's blank eyes remained locked on her the entire time, he spoke to the Uchiha heir once she was out of earshot.

"Hey, what do you think of Sakura?"

Sasuke looked at Naruto and raised his eyebrow; there was a long pause before he replied with a question of his own.

"Why're you asking me?"

Naruto chose not to elaborate. "… No reason in particular."

"… Annoying, shallow."

Naruto looked toward the house and scratched his head. "Huh." Thinking back to what Sakura had said to him the night before, Naruto would say the exact opposite about his pink-haired teammate.

Several minutes of silence had passed, both boys appeared to be in their own personal universes. There was so much to say, but even so, nothing came to their minds, Sasuke struggled to his feet, grunting in pain.

"I'm gonna go eat something… See ya."

Sasuke walked into Tazuna's house, silently shutting the door behind him, Naruto stared up at the morning sky and began to wonder how he'd get through the next few days.

"How did you two do it, Haku-chan? … To lose entire families and keep going on; you, and Sasuke…"

* * *

The trip back to Konoha passed in a near-dead silence.

From what Sakura could tell, her teammates and sensei were all burnt out for multiple reasons. Kakashi's slouching posture showed signs of fatigue and overexertion, on top of that, his injuries hadn't healed. Sasuke's Sharingan was still refusing to come under control and was currently stuck in 'on mode' again, so he was likely drained from sensory overload, and Naruto…

His spine was rigid, his head was high, yet his facial expression was completely blank. His eyes had dark circles around them, but other than that, he appeared fine… assuming you didn't know of his usual temperament. He uncharacteristically remained just as silent as everyone else during the trek back, not even answering Kakashi the one time the man had questioned his status. The painful silence had ended once the village gates appeared within view, Kakashi stopped walking and turned to his genin, he looked each one of them over before deciding on handing Sakura a stack of cash.

"… Sakura. Take those two to get something to eat… and then to the hospital. They don't quite seem themselves… I'll go hand in the report and get our pay released… I'll make sure we're compensated for the spike in the mission's severity."

The silver-haired jonin disappeared in a cloud of white smoke, leaving his genin to walk the rest of the way toward the gate. Sakura was about to ask where they should go, but decided to say nothing, she assumed that she wouldn't get an answer from either of them. She assumed wrong.

"Ichiraku."

Naruto had finally spoken, Sakura and Sasuke turned toward the blonde, who's expression was still disturbingly blank.

Sasuke shrugged in agreement. "Sure, whatever. It's close by."

Sakura sighed and slowed down, signaling for them to show the way. They got through the gate with no trouble from Izumo and Kotetsu, who usually heckled the young genin to no end. They remained silent as the young ninja passed them by, they displayed a sort of silent approval that nearly made Sakura do a double-take.

The genin were of course welcomed back by the statue of the 1st Hokage in the center of Konoha plaza. It was just past lunch, so the streets weren't all that crowded, the near empty plaza gave the kids a bit of pause, but a cool gust of wind ushered them forward toward their destination. Sasuke took the lead toward the popular ramen stand; he walked at a brisk pace despite his fatigue. The prospect of a hearty meal propelled him forward; allowing him to ignore the stinging of the dozen or so wounds peppering his body. The genin arrived at the stand within a few minutes and were greeted by Teuchi when they entered, they immediately sat down, with Sakura having chosen to perch herself on the stool between Naruto and Sasuke.

"Well look who's here! Brought some friends, with you this time, eh Naruto?"

The blonde nodded. "Yeah, we just got back from a mission."

Teuchi nodded and put some water on the stove to boil. He handed Sakura and Sasuke a menu before turning to Naruto.

"So, what're ya hungry for, Naruto?"

Naruto thought for a second before replying. "Actually, I'll just have the usual."

"Alright! How many?"

Naruto took a breath and sighed. "… Just one this time… I'm not that hungry."

Teuchi raised an eyebrow at Naruto and took a few seconds to more closely observe the young ninja. They were all peppered from head to toe in bandages or compresses, and their eyes had a sort of dullness to them, at least for the boys. The girl didn't seem all that beaten up, she only looked tired, with the occasional scrape and bruise here and there.

Sakura and Sasuke gave their orders to Teuchi and he nodded, before stepping into the back room to prepare the ingredients he'd need. There was another painfully long silence, but Sakura figured that the prospect of food might make her teammates more talkative.

She looked at Sasuke for a few seconds, he eventually noticed her staring at him and made eye contact for a second. He gave her a blank expression before turning the other way, obviously to avoid conversing with her.

Sakura looked at Naruto, who did the opposite, when they made eye contact, he stared back, waiting for her to say something.

"So, you must come here pretty frequently… for him to know you by name and all…"

Naruto nodded. "It's the only place my bodyguards would let me eat when I went out… Something about it being "easier to secure" or something… That, and… well, it was the only restaurant that would openly serve me when I was little."

Sakura thought back to their toddler years. "Oh that's right. You'd always have ANBU with you when we were little… Why was that?"

Naruto shrugged. "I guess someone dangerous isn't all that fond of me… Ojii-san didn't want anything to happen to me, I guess."

"Ojii-san?"

Naruto clarified. "Oh, right. Sandaime."

Sakura shuddered at the dark direction the conversation was beginning to take, so she opted to change the subject.

"Um… I'm… Sorry if I stirred up any bad memories… Make sure you eat enough, we don't know how long you'll be in the hospital. I don't hear very good things about the food there…"

Naruto shrugged. "It's fine actually… Or… maybe I'm just used to it, I was there all the time when I was little."

Sakura inwardly groaned. She was getting the feeling that this subject was going to take a dark turn as well, but against her better judgment, she asked anyway.

"Why were you in there all the time?"

Naruto half-smiled nostalgically as he scratched his head.

"I used to get in fights a lot when I was little. The other kids would always mess with me, so I'd have to knock them down a couple of notches. I may have had bodyguards, but I asked them to let me handle stuff like that on my own. I once punched this kid so hard I broke my own hand."

Sakura's expression sunk as she sarcastically jabbed at Naruto for unintentionally darkening the mood again.

"You're full of bright and cheerful stories, aren't you?"

Naruto shrugged and added: "Well, there was the time I painted the Hokage monument..."

Sakura smiled and began to laugh. "That was you?!"

This revelation had even gotten Sasuke's attention, who curiously peered over at Naruto.

The blonde slouched over the counter, resting his head sideways across his hand. "Maybe. Depends on who's asking…"

Sakura poked Naruto on the shoulder. "My dad thought it was so funny, he took a photo of it! It's on our fridge!"

Naruto deadpanned. "I think the 4th Hokage would've looked good with a big green moustache, too bad the ANBU didn't agree."

Sasuke piped in. "They sent ANBU after you?"

Naruto scratched the back of his head and looked toward the clock. "Yeah, only about three or four… I guess the chuunin weren't enough. In hindsight, maybe I should have done it at night…"

Naruto mischievously peered over at the mountain, but eventually sighed and shook his head. "… Nah, it's too soon to try that again… Maybe around Christmas time."

Sakura started to chuckle while Sasuke smirked and rolled his eyes, however, as Sakura's chortle subsided, she could sense that something about Naruto's expression was… off.

He was smirking, and joking around, but that trademark energy of his was simply absent. She chalked it up to the arduous mission, and all things considered, he looked to be doing fine, however, there seemed to be an aura of pain radiating off of Naruto. If Sakura could put words to it, she would say that she found it unnerving.

Naruto's voice snapped Sakura out of her thoughts.

"Hey, uh… Is there something on my face?"

She failed to realize that she'd been leering at him the entire time, Sakura twitched and faced forward toward the counter of Ichiraku.

"Oh… it's nothing."

Naruto rested his head on his palm seeming mildly irritated, but at the same time, thankful. "Your concern's appreciated… but I'm OK, Sakura-chan."

Out of the corner of her eye, Sakura noticed Naruto's posture go rigid for an instant… he was lying, obviously not feeling as "OK" as he would like her to believe. The pinkette started tapping her fingers on the table anxiously, as much as she wanted to say something, she figured that it wasn't the best time.

Turning to Sasuke, Sakura took a deep breath, but before she could speak, Sasuke interrupted.

"What is it, Sakura?"

Her voice caught in her throat and she sputtered for a moment. "I-I uh… was hoping you would train with me once you're healed… I wasn't much help during the mission, and I don't want to be a burden to you two in the future."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes for a few seconds as he stared at his teammate, she could see the gears in his head turning, but what exactly he was thinking about, she would never know.

"Sure… but on one condition."

Sakura started to smile. "What's the condition, Sasuke-kun?"

"Bring Naruto with you."

Sakura's smile slowly disappeared and she looked over to her blonde teammate, who was spinning a set of chopsticks between his fingers, he was quite visibly in a world of his own.

"Sure. Okay..."

Sasuke turned from Sakura and shut his eyes as his stomach growled at him once more, the smell of the boiling noodles was beginning to get to him. Despite the gnawing emptiness in his stomach, he was satisfied. Sasuke didn't feel like being alone with Sakura would be very fulfilling, at least with Naruto there as well, he'd have someone he could properly gauge his newly unlocked sharingan with. Sasuke looked past Sakura to his blonde teammate, he'd stopped twirling the chopsticks and was staring intently at the wall.

Sasuke took note of the expression on Naruto's face; it made him feel uneasy. The blonde had suddenly taken a murderous expression; he stared at the far wall behind the counter, no, through it. Naruto's eyes were a shade of crimson, much like his own Sharingan, the Uchiha narrowed his eyes ant tapped Sakura on the shoulder. She turned to Sasuke and smiled again, her smile disappeared just as quickly when she saw the strange look on Sasuke's face. The Uchiha heir silently pointed to Naruto and spoke quietly, the sound of the boiling water made it so that Sakura was the only one that could hear the Uchiha.

"He's got that look on his face again."

Sakura turned to Naruto and jumped, the amount of disgust in his eyes startled her, but just as it was before, Naruto's ire didn't appear to be directed at anyone in particular.

Sakura frowned for a moment before tapping Naruto.

The blonde snapped out of his trance and turned to her with a blank expression. He stared at Sakura for a moment before noticing the concerned look on her face, he groaned and turned forward once more.

"... I said I was fine Sakura."

Sakura's frown remained. "No, you're not. I want to believe you but…"

"But what?"

Sakura cocked her head to the side. "Your eyes... they're red again… They only get like that when you're really angry..."

Naruto appeared shocked for a moment and his eyes gradually shifted from crimson to a purple color, and then back to their original blue, his expression became slightly downtrodden and he faced forward once more.

"... I was thinking… maybe I could have saved her if I was faster… or stronger…"

Sasuke chimed in. "Thinking like that doesn't help. If I were stronger, I could have saved my family, but it didn't work out that way… there's no point dwelling on it."

Naruto winced and rested his head on his palms, shifting his attention to the boiling water, he thought for a few moments before addressing his teammates.

He remained facing forward as he spoke. "I guess you're right… How about we talk about something less depressing, yeah?"

There was a pause before Naruto continued speaking. "What're you guys gonna spend your first real paycheck on? Kakashi-sensei said we'd be getting an A-Rank salary for this mission."

Sasuke placed his elbows on the table and answered reluctantly, as if neither of his teammates would understand his choice.

"Chain mail, a new Fuma Shuriken I guess…"

Naruto gave Sasuke a bored look. "… Figures." He then looked at Sakura expectantly.

Sakura stared down at her lap and pouted. "… I don't know. I'm still wondering how we even survived… Money's the last thing on my mind to be honest."

Naruto sighed. "Fair enough."

Sakura gave Naruto a keen stare before replying. "What are you going to buy?"

The blonde looked at Sakura for a moment before returning to the boiling pot of water.

Naruto smirked and stretched his arms above his head; there was an audible pop in his spine.

"I'm not sure yet, that's why I asked... I'm having a _few_ ideas now."

With that; Naruto returned to his internal dialogue, Sakura and Sasuke gave Naruto their umpteenth strange look of the day before individually pondering the meaning of his questions. Naruto wasn't one for small talk, nearly everything he did tended to have a purpose.

It was here that Teuchi came out from the back with three small cups full of the condiments and other toppings that came with each order. He turned to the boiling noodles and separated them into three roughly equal portions, though one was notably larger than the rest. He then removed the boiling noodles from the pot into three separate bowls, after which, he added the contents of the three cups to each bowl, taking extra care to mix them in well.

He handed each corresponding bowl to the young ninja at the counter, the last and largest of which, belonged to Naruto.

Teuchi gave Naruto a serious look. "I know you're not all that hungry, but you should eat anyway… I'm not a nosy man, but I know you Naruto, you get like this when things get rough."

Naruto scratched the back of his head and stared down at the bowl. "… Yeah, I guess…"

Teuchi retreated behind the door after giving Naruto another anxious glance.

Naruto grabbed his chopsticks and picked at the noodles before absent-mindedly pulling a clump up to his mouth every few seconds. It wasn't until the noodles reached Naruto's stomach that he realized how hungry he was; understandable, seeing as it had been more than 12 hours since he'd eaten anything.

Team 7 devoured their ramen in in silence; the hungry genin didn't have much to say at this point, being emotionally drained and all… Even then, there was a newfound level of respect between the three children, it was still unspoken of course, but they were much farther along in comparison to their chemistry during Kakashi's bell test.

The short trek to the hospital felt like an eternity, the sore muscles and various injuries plaguing the young genin slowed their perception of the time it took to reach their destination.

Sasuke was visibly annoyed, one of Haku's senbon needles went directly into his calf during the fight, the muscle was beginning to sting due to the amount of walking he'd done since that morning. At this point, all the Uchiha wanted were some painkillers and a comfy bed; luckily for him, the shinobi wing of the hospital was well known for both of those things. It would be a home away from home if the food weren't so bad, he wondered if the poor food quality was intentional or not to keep people from staying too long.

Upon stumbling through the front door, they were immediately greeted by three nurses with wheelchairs, the tallest of which spoke to Team 7 as soon as they entered.

"You must be Kakashi's genin. We were informed that your mission was a lot more dangerous than anticipated, we've made preparations for each of you… if you would…"

The nurse gestured to the chairs and the kids complied immediately, hoping to finally get some sort of rest.

Following the initial examination, the staff had compiled three clipboards, each of which listed the injuries found on the genin. They appeared arduous on paper, but for the experienced hospital staff; these ailments were nothing in comparison to the severity of which they were subject to during the 3rd Shinobi War.

 _Sasuke Uchiha; two dozen puncture wounds of varying depth (none in vital organs or on arteries), cracked rib, various bone contusions, and several small muscular tears._

 _Sakura Haruno; hairline fractures on ulna, sprained shoulder, brusing on neck likely due to attempted strangulation (no damage to windpipe sustained), multiple small lacerations (likely to require stitches)._

 _Naruto Uzumaki; Multiple puncture wounds (low severity in comparison to Uchiha), minor skull fracture (no concussion symptoms), left shoulder dislocation (has been re-set, minor tearing on latissimus dorsi & deltoid), potential psychological damage (monitor disposition closely, consider referring to a specialist for evaluation)._

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura were separated to begin their treatments, none of which were particularly invasive or complex. Sasuke's wounds were meticulously disinfected one at a time… by slipping needles full of antiseptic into the wound channels... For Sasuke, being stabbed in the exact same place twice was both a painful and novel sensation… Painful and novel enough to force him to ask for something to bite down on.

As for Sakura; her wrist and forearm were washed and quickly set in a cast, it wasn't until the nurses told her that her arm was broken in two places that she'd realized the extremity was both warm to the touch and also beginning to throb. She'd assumed it was some moderate bruising, but in the end, she was wrong. The stitches went smoothly, so the staff applied a topical numbing agent before beginning to thread the needle through her skin… the only downside being that the powerful substance would also cause temporary paralysis on the applied location.

Naruto's treatment was a bit more involved, much to his surprise. The hospital staff were always hit-or-miss with the jinchuuriki. The nurses who were medical ninja treated him just fine; the medical staff that lacked a shinobi background were… different… There was a notable apprehensiveness when Naruto interacted with them, but luckily for him, his particular nurse had occaisionally treated him when he used to get into scuffles as a small child.

It was something Naruto had noticed, but never bothered to give much thought. His injuries were treated with a cold efficiency becoming of a shinobi, but once he was physically patched up, the nurse tenderly wheeled him to an office in a secluded section of the hospital. She placed a small plate of sliced fruit in Naruto's lap before leaving, uttering a small phrase.

"He'll be here to see you in a moment."

The room was simple in design, with a small desk and a few windows here and there, pretty boring really…

There was a creak as the door opened behind Naruto, and much to the boy's surprise, the 3rd Hokage stepped into the room.

Naruto stared at the man, confused. "Ojii-san?"

He nodded and smiled as he sat down at the desk. "Kakashi told me everything. I requested that you be referred to me instead of our usual shrink, I know you don't like psychiatrists…"

Naruto opened his mouth for a second before closing it; he looked off to the side and shrugged.

Sarutobi gave the boy a knowing smile. "What was she like?"

Naruto smiled as he talked about her. "Sweet… Just… sweet… Someone like her would have truly flourished if she wasn't forced to become a kunoichi."

Sarutobi stood and cracked the window, lighting his pipe as he replied. "If she were never a shinobi, she never would have met you…"

Naruto felt a pang of guilt, looking at the scrapes on his fists, the ones he'd nearly killed her with.

"But she would be alive…"

Sarutobi turned for a moment. "Naruto, have you ever heard the phrase 'half as long, twice as bright'?"

The blonde looked at the Sandaime, shaking his head. "No."

"It is a saying that the ninja of Konoha have abided by since the village's founding. You must at least be privy to the 'Will of Fire', are you?"

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, they drilled it into us at the academy."

Sarutobi turned back to face Naruto with his characteristic smile. "Apply that saying to the Will of Fire then… It is better to live a short, impactful life in the service of those you cherish most… is it not? The alternative would be to float through life, listless and without fulfillment."

Naruto's eyes widened in realization, he stared back at Sarutobi, waiting for him to continue speaking.

"Naruto, you say you want to be Hokage… you must understand that sacrifice is an important part of this position. You met her for a reason, and while you learned a painful lesson, it is ultimately up to you to follow the path you choose."

Naruto shot out of his wheelchair, causing Sarutobi to worriedly move toward the boy in case he fell over.

Naruto was frowning, but not in anger, it was a look of tenacity. "I know… To be honest, at first, I was only working toward being Hokage because I thought people would stop ignoring me, and also because you all have such high expectations for me… but losing her…"

Naruto could feel some more tears welling up in his eyes; he bit them back and pounded his chest.

"I want to be the Hokage because I finally understand what it's like to lose loved ones… I want to be able to protect my precious people, and becoming Hokage will allow me to do that in ways that actually matter… While I can't stop everything, I can still try… I have to… for her."

Sarutobi was taken aback by the sincerity in Naruto's voice, he smiled and walked over to the boy, grabbing him by the shoulders.

"I think you have the right idea, Naruto... This… emptiness you're feeling will pass. Lean on your teammates, you don't have to spill your guts and tell them every little thing, but just working and growing with them will help you fill the void."

Naruto exhaled and fell back into his wheelchair, giving the Hokage an expectant stare.

Sarutobi paused and smiled. "… That's all, I just wanted to make sure you were okay… relatively speaking."

Naruto, appearing unsure of himself, shifted his gaze to his lap; "... Can I go and see them now then? … My team?"

Sarutobi nodded, and immediately, the door behind Naruto creaked open. It was the nurse that had brought him there originally; the lady silently took Naruto's wheelchair, gently rolling the boy through the office door.

Naruto looked back at Sarutobi's reassuring smile one more time, he then faced forward and exhaled, feeling a small amount of relief for the first time in days. He started to chew on a slice of the apple that the nurse had given him beforehand.

* * *

Team 7 sat in silence in the hospital room; the pasty-blue moonlight was the only thing illuminating the stark white décor, the room felt… larger for some reason. Naruto, in taking Sandaime's advice to heart, had finally come up with a topic of conversation that he knew would even get Sasuke talking.

Naruto's formerly energetic voice pierced the silence. "Hey…"

"What do you foresee for yourselves? … Not literally, like… what do you see yourselves doing 10 or so years from now?"

Sakura, who was half asleep; was snapped awake by Naruto's sudden curiosity.

She replied inquisitively. "Like… what Kakashi-sensei asked us on our first day?"

Naruto, who continued to stare out the window, elaborated. "Not quite, this one is more specific. Kakashi asked us about our dreams and ambitions, I wanna know what path you think your life will be on… 10 years from now."

Sasuke's eyes swiveled toward the blonde and he watched in silence for a moment… eventually he sighed and uttered a short phrase.

"… You first."

Naruto and Sakura turned to Sasuke for a tick before looking at each other.

Naruto turned back to the window, the moonlight causing his eyes to have a sorrowful glow that was gone as soon as it came.

"Me first huh? … I … I wanna find love … Meeting Haku made me feel things I've never felt before, and the things we never got to tell each other, the "what ifs", I'll always wonder… 10 years from now, I hope by then that I find someone who can complete me the way she did."

Naruto continued to stare out the window, while his teammates continued to stare at him. Sasuke had an unreadable expression and appeared to be lost in his own thoughts concerning Naruto's words.

Sakura simply smiled and offered her own answer to Naruto's question.

"That's really something, Naruto… Y-"

The moonlight combined with Naruto's blank expression made him look like a porcelain doll when he looked back at his female teammate, she jumped at the inhuman visage that was Naruto's face.

Naruto's blank expression swapped to mild impatience as the silence drew on. His voice was uncharacteristically small.

"What's wrong? … Go on, I'm listening."

Sakura pulled her blanket closer to her face. "10 years… Right then… I want to prove that anyone can become a successful shinobi if they work hard enough. I'm not from a famous ninja clan, nor do I have a family history of military service, but this… It's just something I need to do… It'd be a waste just being plain old Sakura…"

Naruto appeared confused for a moment before offering some reassurance. "You don't have to prove anything. You managed to learn the tree climbing thing on the first day, it took me several days to get the hang of it... I couldn't even pass the final exam."

Sakura returned Naruto's confusion. "But… you passed just fine, you're a natural! You made twice as many clones as everyone else!"

Naruto shook his head. "Nope, I cheated. I just made shadow clones instead of standard bushin. I could just never learn that jutsu for whatever reason…"

Sakura took this into consideration with a pensive gesture. "I see… But still, with all things considered, you're just strong… The only other person in our graduating class who could keep up with you was Sasuke-kun… Unfortunately, I don't have that going for me. That's why I feel I have something to prove, this mission made it all too clear… I didn't manage to contribute anything while you three nearly died."

Naruto and Sakura looked toward Sasuke, waiting for him to spill his metaphorical guts. The boy sighed once more before relenting…

"Honestly, I don't even know why I'm telling you two any of this, but Aside from my ambition… I suppose that a little over 10 years from now, I hope to be well on my way toward starting a family of my own… assuming I live that long. I think about things… a lot, and one of them is the possibility that my ambition is merely a coping mechanism. I wonder if I truly have what it takes to be an avenger, this mission was the closest I've ever been to death in my life; and it made me doubt my resolve… Going forward, I _**know**_ I cannot fear death… but, being so close to it showed me that I **_do_** … **I'm afraid of dying**..."

With that, the Uchiha heir leaned back and crossed his arms, his eyes were locked on a ceiling tile directly above him, he took a deep breath, and quietly exhaled.

Naruto took a thinking posture and gave Sasuke an approving look while he began to internalize the words, he'd just heard.

"Oi, Sasuke."

"Hn."

"It only means that you haven't yet lost sight of what's truly important."

Sasuke gave Naruto a strange look, so the blonde explained his cryptic response.

"Sandaime once told me that the man who doesn't fear death has nothing to lose... Being afraid of death just means that you still have something worth fighting for… if you die, you can't protect it... you can't have it… whatever it may be."

This made Sasuke sit back up and stare at Naruto, dumbfounded, Naruto didn't stare back though, he simply returned his focus to the moon.

Sakura shuddered as she felt the temperature in the room drop a few degrees… _'profound Naruto'_ was starting to weird her out a bit, he'd cracked maybe one _**genuine**_ smile that entire day, but other than that, he just seemed like a blank slate.

Even so, Team 7 talked well into the night, expressing their hopes, dreams, and the like, as well as a desire for a bump in their painkiller dosages…

* * *

"Naruto."

The owner of the name was nudged awake by the sensation of his face trying to escape his head.

The blonde was woke up to the image of a bored-looking eye. Kakashi was stretching his face into ridiculous expressions. Naruto swatted his teacher's hands from his face and glared. It was early. He was tired.

"What is it?"

"Jiraiya-dono got back last night, he wanted to see how you were doing after the mission."

Naruto smiled; for real this time, not a grin, not a smirk, but a simple smile.

"… Really?"

Kakashi nodded. "Yeah. You're probably healed already, aren't you? Let's slip out for a bit before they notice you're gone."

Naruto sat up and stretched his arms above his head, yesterday's aches and pains were essentially nonexistent. Naruto hopped out of bed, but once he looked down at himself, he realized that he was still dressed in a hospital gown. Kakashi, never missing a beat; tossed him a black t-shirt and a pair of orange shorts.

Naruto rapidly pulled the clothes on and tossed the gown on the floor before heading downstairs with Kakashi; leaving his still-sleeping teammates in the room.

* * *

The cool morning air gave Naruto a bit of extra bounce in his step, as the boy was still quite sleep-deprived. He found himself unable to stay asleep for very long at all; her face pervaded his every thought, always calling to him, but always moving farther away, until the fear of losing her woke him up.

Naruto rubbed his eyes and looked at Kakashi, who appeared visibly worried about him. Even so, the Jonin opted to remain silent.

Evenutally, the Hokage's tower started to enter their field of view, and as they came up on the door, they were greeted by an ANBU escort.

"Kakashi-taicho, Uzumaki-san… Jiraiya-sama and Sandaime-sama await your arrival."

While most people found them creepy, Naruto found their presence calming, the feeling brought back memories of one ANBU in particular…

As a young boy, Naruto could remember being closely watched by ANBU operatives, he wouldn't see them all that often, but one in particular would frequently interact with him directly. "Inu-san" was the name Naruto had given him, the man wore a dog mask, and while he didn't say very much, Naruto preferred being able to at least directly speak to his invisible protectors from time to time.

The jinchuuriki pushed the memory from his mind and continued into the tower and then the elevator with Kakashi and the ANBU. Naruto impatiently watched the numbers on the indicator tick one by one until they reached the top floor. The elevator shuddered for a moment, and then, the door opened, revealing the large doors leading to the Hokage's office. Naruto and Kakashi stepped out of the elevator and walked toward the door, Kakashi grabbed the handle and pulled heavy doors open, revealing Jiraiya. He was standing in the center of the room, while Sarutobi smoked his pipe near the open window.

Jiraiya turned and walked over to Naruto, ruffling his hair. "So you made Genin while I was gone! … Man time flies… _I also hear your first real mission went sideways_ …"

Sandaime turned his attention from Naruto and Jiraiya to Kakashi. "Kakashi, I need you to sign off on a few things to get your team's pay bumped."

Kakashi nodded and crossed the room, circling to the other side of Sarutobi's desk to examine the sheets. Naruto and Jiraiya quietly exited the office and took the elevator back to the lobby.

The normally short elevator-ride felt much longer than it did on the way up, long enough to make Jiraiya feel like he needed to break the silence.

"You seem troubled, Bud… Sarutobi-sensei told me a few things, but I didn't push it. I'd rather hear it from you…"

Naruto, having grown weary of talking about Haku, opted to give his guardian the shortened version.

"To be brief, I met this girl, we grew close… then, she turned out to be one of the enemy ninja contracted to stop us. What gets me, is the fact that she knew who I was the entire time we were meeting each other… She had several chances kill me, but … she didn't… I never got to tell her how I felt, and now…"

Jiraiya peered down at Naruto for a moment before looking back toward the elevator's floor-indicator; the Sannin smiled nostalgically, he had just the kernel of wisdom for this sort of ordeal.

"Hey Naruto."

"Hm?"

"Let me treat you to some ice-cream."

Naruto gave a abject shrug and sighed. "Sure…"

The elevator bell rang, and the door slowly creaked open, allowing the two shinobi to step out. They walked through the near-empty lobby and out the front door… The particular ice cream shop that Jiraiya was talking about happened to be across the street from the tower.

Naruto walked in and immediately plopped himself down at the nearest table, Jiraiya cocked his head to the side.

"You don't even wanna see what they got?"

Naruto shook his head. "I haven't even had breakfast yet…"

Jiraiya frowned and stroked his chin. "Hmmmm. Maybe I _**should**_ take you back to the hospital for a second round of check-ups… the Naruto I know wouldn't say something like that."

The blonde rolled his eyes and smirked. "Chocolate..."

Naruto waited quietly while Jiraiya relayed the order to the shopkeeper, he stared out the window and unintentionally allowed his mind to drift… It of course drifted back to the mission; Naruto slapped his cheeks a few times to push the images from his mind, but to no avail. Lucky for him, Jiraiya was already walking toward the table; he put on a fake smile and accepted the ice cream cone.

"I'm not one of your teammates, Naruto… You don't need to put on a brave face for me."

Naruto's "smile" slowly subsided and his expression went blank; Jiraiya paused a moment before he started to talk.

"I lost someone important to me once."

Naruto looked up with a strange expression. "… Did they die?"

Jiraiya shook his head. "No… but with the way things went down between us, it's essentially no different. We don't talk to each other very much anymore, and when we do, it feels like she's a shell of her former self. It's almost like the person I fell in love with no longer exists. In turn, I've devised several different ways of coping with it."

Naruto sneered. "You want me to write porn?"

Jiraiya began to laugh. "Hah! Don't knock it 'til you try it! … But in all seriousness, I wasn't really a "hermit" until she and I separated about 15 years ago. I saturated my life with the other things I wanted to work toward. For example, when you were born, I made it a point to make sure that you grew up comfortably."

Naruto chomped down on the frozen chocolate, muttering a quiet "thanks".

There was a long silence while the Sannin stared at his godson, he appeared to think for a moment before inquiring; "I'm guessing you're all talked out at this point?"

Naruto shrugged. "Sort of, I guess… I've gotten plenty of advice from everyone at this point. Sasuke, Kakashi-sensei, Ojii-san, you… _Sakura-chan_."

Jiraiya took note of Naruto's strange vocal inflection concerning the last name he rattled off.

"Sakura-chan? Who might she be?"

Naruto took another bite of his ice cream. "My other teammate. She told me something pretty similar… she said I should find something to fight for. I'm not sure what though."

Jiraiya smirked. "Maybe you should ask her…"

Naruto looked up, visibly confused. "Why would I do that?"

"Why not?"

Naruto stared down at his ice cream and scratched his head, Jiraiya could see Naruto's gears turning, but ultimately decided not to pursue the topic.

They ate in silence for a while, Naruto just picking away at his ice cream, and Jiraiya merely taking in the busy streets outside the window.

After a few minutes, Naruto broke the silence; he looked to Jiraiya after finishing his ice cream.

"How long are you gonna be in town?"

Jiraiya paused to think for a moment. "I'll be back for a little longer than usual this time. About a month actually…"

Naruto nodded and stood up from the table. "… There's something I need to do tonight. I think I'll be ready to talk more tomorrow morning."

Jiraiya raised an eyebrow. "Hn. Come find me when you're ready then."

Naruto stood up from the table and quickly slipped out the door and into the crowd, Jiraiya scratched his head and his mind drifted to that certain someone.

"I wonder what you're up to, Tsunade-hime…"

* * *

Sakura woke up with a groan as the bruised muscles and bones made sure to remind her that she was in no shape to be moving around quite yet; a stark contrast from the day before. She stared down at her purpling arm with a pout, she'd always wondered why injuries would hurt even more the following day as opposed to the day of. Pushing the throbbing from her mind, she surveyed the white room; realizing that it bothered her somewhat. The night before, the soft blue of the moon gave the room a comforting glow, but now, the white sunlight gave the room an unnatural feeling. Everything in the room was white, even the shadows, it just felt too sterile.

Sakura was shaken from her thoughts when Sasuke grunted, shifting in his cot. It was likely that he was still asleep, so Sakura opted not to say anything. Whenever they went camping, Sasuke cemented himself as the lightest sleeper of Team 7, even the slightest of noises seemed to stir him from his slumber.

Sakura lazily swung her head to the other side of the room, only to find nothing. Naruto's cot was messy and unkempt, but other than that, there was no sign of him anywhere.

Sakura looked closer and could see a hospital gown sprawled across the floor. Her mind started to spin up. Logically, if Naruto had been checked out already, they'd have made the bed, and his gown wouldn't be on the floor. There was only one other conclusion… Naruto probably slipped out.

Sakura raised her eyebrow and hopped off of her cot, she looked in the bathroom, which was empty, she even looked in the closet, it was empty as well. Walking over to Naruto's bed, she began to examine it, but some movement outside the window caught her eye.

Normally the streets weren't very crowded this early in the morning, but one lone figure trudged through the dust the wind had kicked up. She only caught a glimpse, but this person's distinctive hair color made her continue watching.

She leaned forward and squinted as he walked into a store that was on the other side of the intersection below the window. She stared intently, waiting for this person to come out; it felt like an eternity, but eventually he walked out of the store.

It was definitely Naruto, Sakura frowned in suspicion; since Naruto came out carrying some paint cans in one hand, and some plastic bags in the other. Sakura could see some objects poking out of the top of these bags, from what she could see, they appeared to be candles.

Naruto then looked toward the window, causing Sakura to hide from his view, she quickly crawled over to her bed and sat there, wondering exactly what she should do.

She was startled when she heard some light tapping on the window. Turning slowly, she made a confused expression when her eyes locked with Naruto's… he was clinging to the wall just outside the 4th story window.

Sakura scurried over to the window and produced a black hairpin from her pink locks. She winced and carefully maneuvered her casted arm from its sling, there was a soft popping noise as she flexed her fingers before closing them around the lock.

After a few seconds, Sakura had picked the lock do the window and swung it open, Naruto silently climbed in without acknowledging Sakura. He sauntered over to a labled chest with his name on it. Naruto flicked the tag and stared down at it for a moment before opening it. He went through it, collecting his belongings, his wallet, his chain-mail, and lastly, his jacket; all of which appeared to have been cleaned and repaired. Naruto could feel her gaze burning holes in the back of his head, so after slipping his jacket on and stuffing his wallet into his black shorts, he turned to Sakura with an ambiguous expression.

She inquired. "What is it this time?"

Naruto scratched his head. "Huh?"

Sakura closed the window and re-secured the padlock before turning back to Naruto with a concerned glare.

"You've been shutting me out ever since last night, I understand that you need space but... You say you're OK, but you're most definitely _**not**_ OK. Someone close to you has died, and you're trying to bottle it up!"

Sakura slammed her hands over her mouth once she realized her voice was increasing in volume. The two genin looked toward Sasuke, who was miraculously still sleeping.

Naruto maintained his empty expression, replying in a wistful monotone. "Sakura… I need closure... Much of what Haku and I felt for each other was left unsaid, so I'm going to do one last thing for her before I start moving on."

Naruto smiled at her tiny bit. "So yeah, I know what I wanna do now."

"Does it have anything to do with the paint you just bought?"

Naruto nodded and pulled a crude sketch out of his pocket.

"The Obon festival's already passed, but until now, I didn't have any deceased loved ones to make lanterns for… now I do… I'll make one for each day that we knew each other."

Sakura observed the sketch for a moment before looking back at Naruto's face. There was a moment of stillness as she tried to find some sort of complement or consolation; but before she could say anything, Naruto put a hand on her shoulder and smiled.

"Thank you for being there when I needed you, Sakura-chan. Please, let me do one last thing on my own… I'll see you both again soon."

With that, Naruto turned and slipped out the door; leaving Sakura without words in the wake of what just transpired. She silently spun on her heels and walked back to her bed, hoping to get a bit of extra sleep before her morning checkup. The look of resolve in Naruto's eyes was a far cry from what it was the day before at the Ramen stand, Sakura smiled and shut her eyes as she drifted off to sleep.

* * *

As the golden sun began to disappear beneath the horizon, Naruto prepared his ritual. Behind the training grounds, and tucked away beyond the eyes of Konoha, there was a small creek. It was here that Naruto had decided to bring his paper lanterns.

He stared down at his work and smiled nostalgically; each lantern represented a moment he shared with Haku, and combined, the 4 lanterns represented a prayer of sorts…

A prayer of what Naruto hoped would come his way one day, perhaps it would be like karma… sending love one direction, and receiving it from another. He picked up the first lantern and observed his craftsmanship.

The lantern was black, with a yellow star-shaped fruit on it; the same fruit that smacked him dead in the face. The same fruit that brought them together.

' _To think a piece of fruit would lead to all this…'_

* * *

 _Day 1: Stars_

 _Naruto ran up the tree for the what felt like the hundredth time, only to land firmly on his ass... again._

 _"Dammit! Why's this so much easier for everyone else?"_

 _Naruto sprinted toward the tree and punched it, his fist embedded itself firmly in the bark, and the whole tree shuddered as countless fruits that Naruto had never seen before—all began to fall to the ground. He looked up to further examine the tree he was training on, but apparently that wasn't in the cards for him, because a yellow, star-shaped fruit promptly knocked him out._

 _For Naruto, being knocked out was a strange experience. This particular time, he could have sworn he felt the occasional hand on his face and shoulders; they were soft, delicate, and cold._

 _Eventually, the abyss slowly disappated and Naruto could feel himself returning to conciousness._ _The genin's mind began to ponder his predicament._

 _'It's those hands again… Last thing I remember is getting hit in the face by one of those damn fruits.'_

 _Naruto's eyes slowly opened to one of the most beautiful faces he'd ever seen. His head was propped up on her knees and he could feel her treating the bruises and cuts on his face and body._

 _"You're awake. I'm glad."_

 _Naruto smiled, or what would pass for a smile, given the amount of pain he was in. He tried to sit up, but the beautiful girl stopped him._

 _"Don't move yet, I'm almost done."_

 _Naruto didn't complain and stared up at her face as she treated his cuts and bruises. She noticed his gaze and smiled down at him._

 _"Might I ask your name?"_

 _"Uzumaki Naruto."_

 _"Uzumaki? I've heard of that clan before. What's it like?"_

 _Naruto squinted. "I never knew there was a clan... I'm an orphan as far as I know."_

 _"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that... I'm an orphan as well."_

 _"Really huh? What's your name, Miss? I gotta call you something."_

 _"... It's Haku."_

 _Naruto shifted a bit before elaborating. "Is that your actual-name or yer last-name?"_

 _She seemed taken aback by Naruto's blunt delivery, but her surprise quickly faded into amusement._

 _"Yuki Haku is my full name, but please, call me Haku… It's a pleasure to meet you, Uzumaki-san."_

 _Naruto shuddered. "You can call me Naruto. Anything else is a bit too formal for me."_

 _Haku smiled at the blonde and replied in a warm tone. "I noticed... Your bandages are done, you can move around if you wish. Or we can stay this way if you're too fatigued."_

 _Naruto sat up and faced the girl, taking a moment to observe her. She was of slender build, and judging from her height and disposition, Naruto could tell that she was a bit older than he was._

 _The boy offered his hand. "Thank you for watching over me… I was careless, running off on my own and getting knocked out in enemy territory."_

 _Haku raised an eyebrow. "I'd figured you were here on a mission… Were you just training?"_

 _Naruto grinned and scratched his head. "Yeah. Tree climbing… without using my hands. I can't seem to get the hang of it—or any basic jutsu for that matter. I only seem to be good at the more advanced stuff."_

 _Haku smiled and rose to her feet. "I propose a trade then."_

 _Naruto rose as well, noting that she was slightly taller than he was. He cursed his diminutive stature for a moment before agreeing to this trade._

 _Haku brushed some hair out of her face before stating her conditions. "I'll teach you a simpler way to learn this skill, and in return, you'll help me gather more medicinal herbs; seeing as I had to use my initial supply in order to treat you."_

 _Naruto grinned and nodded. "Sounds fair! Let's go get those herbs!"_

 _Haku smiled and shook her head. "Let's do this first, the herbs will still be there when we finish."_

* * *

Naruto stared at the yellow star; smiling as he remembered just how quickly he'd progressed in just one evening. He placed the first lamp at his side and grabbed the second one, also black.

This one had a simple painting of a tree on it; the specs of yellow represented the fruit that initially brought them together. This tree was created in the image of the very tree he'd met Haku at—the tree that had taught him so much in such a short time.

* * *

 _Day 2: Trees of Tranquility_

 _The first day with Haku marked a notable jump in progress in terms or Naruto's chakra control and climbing ability. Initially unbeknownst to Naruto; Haku was a full-fleged shinobi, not a mere hobbyist or adept._

 _Kiri shinobi used mental imagery to enhance chakra-control, whereas Konoha ninja were more partial to repetitive drills to enhance control._

 _Naruto sprinted nearly halfway up the tree until his feet could no longer stick to the bark. He gracefully fell back down and landed on his feet with a grin._

 _"Even higher this time!"_

 _Haku smiled. "Good. I think you're ready for the next mental exercise."_

 _Naruto turned to face the kunoichi and sat cross-legged._

 _"I gave you a river as an example yesterday in order to create a constant chakra-flow to the soles of your feet. Now, we're going to change that image to something more complex, yet more reliable."_

 _Naruto was visibly leaning forward in anticipation of the information he was about to receive._

 _Haku paused and chuckled, the boy had a child-like enthusiasm that she'd thought impossible for a shinobi to possess._

 _"I want you to take the consistency of flowing water, and transform that into electricity in a circuit, this circuit will be your body. All living things possess chakra in varying amounts; this tree has it as well. Think of yourself running a current of chakra through your feet, into the tree, back through your soles and into your chakra coils. By repeating this process in a cycle, it will allow you to reduce the effort needed to sustain your climb."_

 _Naruto thought for a moment before bolting toward the tree to try it out, but Haku's soft voice gave him pause._

 _"Naruto? This time, try going as slowly as possible while visualizing the circuit."_

 _Naruto nodded and looked up at the dauntingly tall tree; he closed his eyes and placed one foot on the tree, then the other. He was now standing perpendicular with the ground._

 _Haku's tender voice guided him further. "Perfect. Now, walk slowly forward."_

 _Naruto lifted one of his feet and swayed, he could feel himself loosing traction and falling backward, he felt a pair of arms slow his fall to the ground._

 _Her voice egged him on. "You're doing fine. Keep going."_

 _Naruto stood once more; managing to take two steps this time before sliding back down into Haku's arms._

 _Naruto chuckled. "I swear, I can do this when no one's watching."_

 _Haku smiled. "Shall I turn around while you climb?"_

 _Naruto shook his head and laughed. "Nah. Who'd catch me if I fell then?"_

 _"I'd still catch you..."_

 _Naruto smiled and stared down at the grass, taking a chance to enjoy the jolt he felt from her hands on his shoulders._

 _"Heh... funny how I ended up ditching my training… to train."_

 _Haku gave Naruto a bit of a nudge to help him into his fourth step. "The Irony isn't lost on me. Shall we move on for now?"_

 _"Never. I can get this today, I'm so close!" The jinchuuriki took a few more steps before sliding back down into her arms._

 _Haku smiled and stood Naruto to his feet, her soft voice tickled his ears, making his heart flutter. "The reason I'm having you walk instead of run is to further internalize the images I'm feeding you. Let's try again."_

 _Naruto did as he was told and stepped onto the tree. Haku let go of him and he began walking steadily until reaching the spot where he'd last made it._

 _"Good, you're there, but you're starting to lose traction... Now, I want you to close your eyes and think about the circuit of chakra."_

 _The boy closed his eyes and thought as hard as he could, molding the chakra to the image that he was creating. Suddenly, the sliding stopped and Naruto continued walking._

 _Haku stayed on the ground and stared up in anticipation, it appeared as if Naruto would eventually walk to the top. However, Naruto—never being one to do things in the standard format, began to increase his pace._

 _Naruto's steady stroll up the tree evolved into a full-blown sprint, eventually, the orange-clad shinobi disappeared into the leaves above._

 _Haku smiled in anticipation as the sounds of Naruto's climbing began to bounce and echo from different directions. She looked around, wondering which direction he'd reappear from._

 _Suddenly Naruto came bursting out of the treeline, landing in front of Haku and wrapping her up in a bear-hug._

 _"Thankyouthankyouthankyou!"_

 _The girl smiled in response Naruto's enthusiasm once he put her down. He then handed her a yellow fruit, shaped like a star._

 _"It's only fitting, since this little fruit is the reason we met. They actually taste pretty good, wanna split one?"_

 _Haku stared down at the star and touched it, the fruit fit perfectly between their hands and their eyes met... Eyes full of ambiguous expressions._

 _"… Of course, I... I would gladly share this with you... Naruto-kun."_

* * *

Naruto's nostalgic smile subsided a bit, the sweetness of the memory felt tainted by the events that would come to pass just a few days afterward. Naruto stared down at the lantern one last time before looking to the third one. This lantern was entirely blue, with wave and ripple patterns across the surface.

* * *

 _Day 3: Crystal Waters_

 _As the days rolled on, Naruto began to realize the looks of suspicion and skepticism from his teammates, Kakashi-sensei especially. Once Kakashi had given Team 7 a training exercise, he left to gather some leads on Gato. As soon as the coast was clear, Naruto slipped off to "grab some supplies from town"._

 _Sakura eyed Naruto suspiciously, and spurned on by Kakashi's orders to keep an eye on Naruto, she followed the jinchuuriki. He disappeared into some brush and Sakura followed discreetly. While Sasuke had also been given orders to keep an eye on Naruto, in this case, he didn't particularly care._

 _As far as he knew Zabuza was dead, and neither Team 7 nor Tazuna were in any real danger. He rolled his eyes and returned to his tree-climbing exercise._

 _Sakura followed Naruto to a small alcove in the forest. The thick foliage made it feel as if it were late evening, the leaves blocking most of the morning sun. The beauty of this lake wasn't even the most captivating sight. There, in the middle of the lake, was a beautiful girl in a pink kimono._

 _Naruto stumbled into Sakura's field of vision, she heard her teammate call to this girl on the lake… 'Haku'._

 _"How'd you get over there?!"_

 _The girl seemed to perk up and she literally waltzed across the surface of the water back to the shore. Both Naruto and Sakura were dumbfounded at such a display. It was entirely likely that neither genin were privy to such a basic ability._

 _Naruto scratched his head. "So uh… why're we meeting here today?"_

 _Haku took Naruto's hand with both her own and gently pulled him toward the water. "I didn't think you'd learn how to climb trees so quickly, so I'm going to teach you something a bit more advanced. You seem to learn fastest when thrown into the fray, so we'll do this sink-or-swim style."_

 _Naruto stared worriedly at the surface of the water. "… Punny."_

 _Haku smiled and stopped once they reached the shore. "I'm glad you caught that... Now, give me your other hand, I promise I won't let go."_

 _Naruto shrugged and allowed her to take his other hand, she proceeded to give him another mental image._

 _"This image is simple, despite the task itself being much harder than climbing trees. Think of your heartbeat. It's what keeps you alive, and in this case; it's also what keeps you afloat. You have to pulse chakra from the soles of your feet at a rapid enough pace to keep you from sinking… understand?"_

 _Before Naruto could answer, Haku began gently pulling him into the water. At first, Naruto's feet dragged along the bottom as she seemed to become taller and taller, but the sensation of water on Naruto's knees caused his natural talent to kick in. Naruto raised his foot above the surface of the water, and when he touched it again, it stopped as if the surface were solid ground._

 _Naruto raised himself to Haku's level and grinned._

 _She nodded in approval. "I'm equally surprised yet... not surprised, you take to this like a fish to water"._

 _Naruto rolled his eyes and chuckled at the word-play while Haku responded with a playful upturn of her lips before continuing her lesson._

 _"We'll stay like this for a moment to see how long you can hold it. After that we'll try walking around, maybe even dancing."_

 _Naruto sputtered. "D-dancing? B-but I don't even kno-"_

 _Haku placed her finger on Naruto's lips and shook her head. "Don't get ahead of yourself."_

 _Naruto's concentration faltered, causing him to shoot through the water's surface. There was a moment of silence while Haku observed the blonde flail beneath the water. She placed her hand beneath the surface and he grabbed it, he climbed back out and rose to his feet with a goofy pout._

 _"You're enjoying this."_

 _Haku didn't laugh, but she definitely appeared to be enjoying Naruto's inability to remain dry. Naruto wobbled to his feet once more and they continued to move along the water._

 _"Naruto?"_

 _"What's up?"_

 _"… Do you want to dance?"_

 _Naruto sputtered. "U-uh yeah.. It's just-"_

 _Haku cut him off. "It's fine, just follow my lead. You need to be able to multitask while you're walking on water or climbing trees."_

 _Haku ushered the blonde to the center of the lake and gave an extra bit of advice. "This is called a waltz, Naruto. Mirror my footsteps and you'll do fine._

 _Naruto did as he was told and offered his hands to the girl across from him. Haku took one of his in her own and placed his other on her hip, Naruto flushed as she gently guided him in circles. They were perfect mirror images, and Haku appeared genuinely surprised that Naruto was keeping up with her._

 _Haku's grinned and chuckled. "You're a natural. At this rate, I won't have anything left to teach you."_

 _Naruto struggled to speak. "Can't talk… concentrating."_

 _She chuckled once more. "Oh, well then, squeeze my hand once for yes, and twice for no."_

 _Naruto gave her an inquisitive glance before returning his gaze to her feet. Haku spontaneously decided to throw a spin or two into the routine before she began to talk._

 _"Do you remember which squeeze is which?"_

 _Naruto squeezed her hand once, maintaining his attention on her feet. In reply, Haku reversed the steps, causing Naruto to sink into the water a few inches, but he managed to recover in a few seconds._

 _"Great recovery. Next Question... have you... ever lost something truly precious to you?"_

 _Naruto looked up at Haku, and instead of squeezing, chose to answer her plainly._

 _"No, I don't think so… I never met my parents, so I can't really say."_

 _Haku nodded understandingly and replied in a soft voice. "Always protect what's precious to you, but that... that's straightforward... It's figuring out what you take for granted—before you lose it... that is where the difficulty comes."_

 _Naruto took the wisdom and began to internalize it, he thought about his guardians and Kakashi, and how painful losing them could be. He pushed the thoughts from his mind immediately, as they were beginning to worry him._

"Haku, what's wrong? This whole thing just took a turn I didn't expect... Is there something you want to tell me?"

 _Haku slowed down the dance steps and began to exaggerate them, Naruto took this as a cue to just focus on the dance. Naruto gripped her hand and they began to move in a clockwise fashion. Having figured out all the moves for the most part, Naruto finally looked up at Haku as opposed to staring at their feet._

 _Their eyes met and she smiled at him, Naruto flushed and looked off to the side; there was a tiny smile on his face. Haku took note of this and smiled back, but behind her serene expression—there was an affectionate mischievousness that was dying to throw another curve ball at Naruto._

 _"Naruto."_

 _He looked toward her and stared into her eyes in unbridled anticipation. "Y-Yeah?"_

 _"Let's go on a date."_

 _Naruto's eyes bulged and he immediately shot beneath the surface of the water, Haku started chuckling, her hand positioned over her mouth. Once more, she placed her hand beneath the surface, expecting Naruto to grab it… he did…_

 _He took her hand and yanked it, pulling her beneath the surface of the water. The lake bubbled for a moment before the laughing shinobi emerged once more. Haku climbed to her feet and pulled Naruto up as well, she took her hair and wringed it out with a chuckle._

 _"I supposed I had that coming. You're picking this up quite **handily** , Naruto-kun."_

 _Naruto growled at the third pun of the evening before looked down at his drenched clothes and scratched his head for a moment._

 _"You're a real piece of work, Haku. You shouldn't joke around about that stuff."_

 _Haku's lips curled upward and she cocked her head to the side. "Perhaps I wasn't joking at all."_

 _Naruto was dumbfounded, unable to speak. Haku took him by the hand and led him back to the shore_

 _"Come on, I've got some clothes you can wear while I dry these off."_

 _"… Yeah, s-sure."_

 _There was a rustle in the trees, but neither of them noticed. A certain pink-haired kunoichi stifled a laugh, seeing someone who could make Naruto seem vulnerable was a rare, and ultimately entertaining sight._

* * *

Naruto placed the blue lantern back down with an uncharacteristic tenderness. He smiled at the wave patterns on the lantern one last time. The fourth lantern was dark purple, with a white moon on it. This particular lantern was especially difficult for Naruto to make, with the memories still fresh in his mind.

"4 is death…" He muttered.

Everyone around Naruto had always said to avoid 4's like the plague, and while Naruto wasn't particularly superstitious, he wasn't completely indifferent toward the idea any more. This lantern… It represented the very last time that Naruto and Haku were on the same side of their struggles… The Battle of the Great Naruto Bridged would transpire the very next day.

* * *

 _Day 4: Moonlight_

 _This particular day was proving difficult for Naruto. Kakashi had been watching him like a hawk, and Sakura seemed smug, like she knew something that he didn't. From the moment he woke up, there was always someone breathing down his neck._

 _Naruto promised Haku that he'd come see her as often as he could, and as far as he was concerned, this time would be no different. Initially, Kakashi had Team 7 work on tree climbing for Naruto sake, so that he could catch up._

 _However, he appeared to have miraculously improved over the past few days. Kakashi, in an attempt to minimize Naruto's opportunities to escape, had managed to keep Team 7 occupied throughout the entire day. The last thing he had planned for that evening was some light sparring. Sakura opted out, especially after seeing the impatient expression on Naruto's face (she didn't want to take her chances getting between Naruto and his 'girlfriend'), but Sasuke… he was especially eager to do something aside from chakra control exercises._

 _Kakashi took the genin out into the front yard and had Sasuke and Naruto stand a few paces away from each other, he began laying down the rules, as if Naruto gave a damn. He wanted to end this as quickly as possible, but his competitive disposition wouldn't allow him to throw the fight._

 _Kakashi said that the match would be taijutsu only, but Naruto wasn't having any of that. He reached into his pouch and grabbed a hard candy, and a smoke bomb. He ate the candy, but kept the smoke bomb in his closed fist as he got into a stance._

 _Sasuke charged Naruto and opened with a spinning kick. Naruto ducked under it and repositioned behind where Sasuke would land. The Uchiha heir adjusted and followed-up with an axe kick aimed at Naruto's head, Naruto dodged that as well and allowed the pellet to fall out of his hand, a cloud of smoke covered Tazuna's front yard, obscuring everything from view._

 _Naruto used the percussive sound of the bomb to mask the distinctive noise of the Shadow Clone Jutsu. The real Naruto came bursting out of the smoke, while his shadow clone finished the fight. Naruto figured it wouldn't be too long before they figured out that he'd given them the slip._

 _He darted through the trees as the sun retreated below the horizon. He'd felt like he was in the clear until he saw a flash of pink in the corner of his eye. He stopped and looked down, it was Sakura._

 _She appeared to be out of breath despite Naruto only going at about ¾ his top speed. She gestured for him to come down and talk, so he decided to humor her for a moment._

 _"Naruto, -pant- you can't just run off like this."_

 _The blonde shrugged. "Sorry. This is just something I have to do. We're supposed to be heading back tomorrow once the bridge finishes construction… I made a promise."_

 _Sakura nodded. "That water-walking girl..."_

 _Naruto raised his eyebrow. "How'd y-?"_

 _Sakura cut him off. "Kakashi-sensei asked me to figure out where you were going when he would leave to gather intel. I told him I lost you when I saw you went to meet her, she seems really nice… But at the end of the day, we're a team, and we're on a mission. You can't get distracted out here, enemy territory and all..."_

 _Naruto sighed, feeling guilty for blowing off his teammates. "I know… I've just never felt like this before. You know how you're all goo-goo eyed around Sasuke-teme? … I think I finally get what you're feeling… but... I don't know, I just feel like I connect with her on a different level than I have with anyone else in my **entire** life."_

 _Sakura blushed and nodded. "I see... so you're... hm." Sakura smiled and nodded once more. "It's fine Naruto… Go see her, just make sure you don't get hurt out there or anything. It's bad enough I'm letting you do this,_ _please_ don't make me regret it... okay?"

 _Naruto gave a bear hug, lifting her off the ground completely. "Ya know, you're a lot cooler than I gave you credit for... Thanks Sakura!"_

 _Sakura sighed. "Yeah, yeah... just go before I change my mind... or we get caught!"_

 _The jinchuuriki placed his teammate back on her feet and grinned before disappearing in a blur of orange, generating a powerful gust of wind. Sakura was startled by his speed and patted down her now tousled locks before turning around to head back to Tazuna's house. Despite the upbeat nature of her exchange with Naruto, she still had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach, like something horrible was about to happen._

 _Naruto arrived at Haku's house just as the sun had finally disappeared from sight. The lights were off and the blinds were shut, this initially gave Naruto pause._

 _He moved to knock on the door, and just before his knuckles touched the wood, a familiar voice came from behind him._

 _"It's nice to see you again."_

 _Naruto turned with a smile, but was thrown for a loop when he saw her. She looked positively amazing. The moonlight reflected off of her black and silver kimono, giving her a serene glow._

 _Naruto twitched. "You go into town or something today?"_

 _Haku nodded. "Your shadow clones gathered far more herbs than I initially needed. I went to sell off the surplus."_

 _She offered Naruto a stack of bills from her sleeve. "You're the one who did most of the work… it's only fair."_

 _Naruto politely refused the money. "It's fine. I don't really care about money all that much… You'd find a much better use for it than I would."_

 _Haku pondered for a moment before putting the money back into her sleeve. "I suppose you came to talk?"_

 _Naruto nodded. "My team will be leaving tomorrow afternoon and I don't know if I'll be able to come see you one more time…"_

 _Haku nodded and paused for a moment, obviously thinking to herself. After a short moment, her eyes lit up and she grabbed Naruto's hand._

 _"There's a hill nearby where you can see the moon clearly, no trees at all. Let's talk there."_

 _"Huh? … Sure, of course." Naruto could feel the blood rush to his face when she touched him; it was like electricity was zipping up and down his nerve endings. The cool air made Naruto chatter as Haku ran with him to this so-called hill._

 _She took him toward a tall shrub and she leapt into the air, pulling Naruto up with her. They both came down on the other side of the shrubbery, the hill framed perfectly by the blue moonlight. Haku smiled and walked up to the top, gripping Naruto's hand tightly, she sat down on her knees and looked up into the black sky._

 _Naruto observed her; she shut her eyes and let the wind rustle her hair as she took in the moonlight, as if she were some sort of lunar flower. As far as Naruto was concerned, she was an image of perfection. He smiled at her laid down on his back; curious, the boy also stared up into the night sky, the stars formed beautiful splashes of color, some red, some purple, most blue… Naruto could stay this way forever as far as he was concerned._

 _"Naruto-kun?"_

 _"What's up?"_

 _"… Thank you. For everything."_

 _Naruto looked at the girl, he was visibly confused. "Eh? It's me that should be thanking you! There's no telling what could have happened to me if you hadn't found me when you did… you also made it so that I got to meet you. That's a plus as well."_

 _Haku smiled and took Naruto's hand in her own. "Up until now, it felt like everything in my life was in grey… You've injected some color into it, if that makes sense…"_

 _Naruto shrugged. "Sorta…"_

 _Haku replied, smiling at the stars. "All I have is my… adoptive father. He takes care of me and treats me well, but… You're the first person I feel like I can talk to about such personal things. That's why I say… I'm just happy that I decided to help you that day."_

 _Naruto chuckled. "... I don't believe in fate, but sometimes… I wonder if certain things are supposed to happen or not. That day you could have taken a different route through the woods, you could have decided to head into town before gathering your herbs, but no. Right then, right there, you found me… and I found you…"_

 _Haku squeezed Naruto's hand. "It's an interesting thing to think about, but thinking about it too much isn't good for you… I prefer to enjoy this our meeting for what it is."_

 _"And… what is it to you, Haku-chan?"_

 _Haku turned to Naruto with a tiny smile. "Everything."_

 _Naruto chuckled. "Now you're just trying to be profound."_

 _Haku chuckled as well. "But meeting you **was** profound. You've become so important to me even though we've only known each other for a short few days..."_

 _The two shinobi fell silent and allowed the calming sounds of nature to overtake them. The chirping of the crickets, the flowing water of the nearby river, the soothing whistle of the wind… it all came together in a beautiful medley of sights and sounds that sent a chill down Naruto's spine._

 _Naruto found his hand drift toward Haku's once more. Once their skin made contact, the blonde turned to her with an anxious stare._

 _"Haku-chan? … What happens after tomorrow? I don't have the rank to travel on my own… it may be a while before I can come back to see you."_

 _Haku appeared worried, but not for the reasons that Naruto assumed._

 _"If we don't see each other again… perhaps it's for the best. You may meet someone that you wouldn't have otherwise if you were hung up on finding me again…"_

 _Haku turned away from Naruto to hide her face, he froze and felt his stomach churn… a bad sign. The boy sat up and crawled over to Haku, he touched her shoulder and she looked up at him with tears in her eyes. The jinchuuriki inhaled and pulled her up into a sitting position, his hands on both her shoulders._

 _"Haku-chan…"_

 _She shook her head and wiped her tears. "I'm sorry… It's just; I didn't think you were coming to see me today, and now, here you are."_

 _Naruto smiled in an attempt to lighten the mood. "I always keep my promises 'ttebayo!"_

 _"There's… something I have to do tomorrow, and I'm unsure If I'll get to see you again either…"_

 _Naruto twitched and fished for a solution. "I-I'll help you do it right now! You're not talking about this like it's an errand you need to run or something… It sounds… dangerous."_

 _Haku wiped her eyes once more and gave Naruto a surprised expression; his ability to read people was uncanny… even for a shinobi._

 _"Even now, you still find ways to amaze me, Naruto-kun. I wish I could be more like you… taking things head-on with reckless abandon… wearing your heart on your sleeve. Maybe I would be able to…"_

 _"… To what? … Haku?"_

 _She wiped her eyes once more and smiled at him. "Nothing. For now, let us enjoy what little time we have left."_

 _Naruto tried to smile, but the sinking feeling in his stomach was increasing… Haku took not of his mixed expression and opened her arms, but Naruto refused the hug. His eyes had taken on the sharpness of a man on a mission, in that moment, Haku couldn't see the boy that she patched just a few days prior… she saw a different person entirely."_

 _Naruto crawled closer to her and sat on his haunches. "I like to live in the moment sometimes… but I also think about the future a lot more than the average guy. I thought a lot about my future and what I want, and I want… I want you to be more than just a fond memory that I carry with me. I want to stay with you.."_

 _Haku's eyes widened at the intense words the seemingly coarse boy had uttered, the look on her face descended into fear and regret as his words sunk in. Tears started to roll down her stoic visage once more._

 _"… I do too, Naruto-kun… but things don't always work out the way they're supposed to... I've learned that lesson the hard way."_

 _Naruto peered down at his hands, he had no idea how to react. Suddenly, words started to pour out of Naruto's mouth, startling him somewhat._

 _"I don't want you to be right about this… but if you are… Tell me something, Haku-chan... How do you feel about me?"_

 _She rose to her feet and Naruto did as well, she looked up at the moon with a blank expression before turning to Naruto. She took his hand in both her own and caressed it for a moment._

 _"You'll know soon enough… I promise."_

 _"What? No! We're not dodging this! Tell! … Tell... me..." Suddenly, Naruto's eyelids felt heavy and his strength left his limbs. The last thing he could remember, was Haku, staring down at him with tears in her eyes._

 _Before it went dark, he managed to read her lips._

 **' _I'm sorry... for everything.'_**

* * *

Naruto stared at the final lantern and pulled out a book of matches. Sure, he was trying to come to terms with what happened, but it just felt too close… too painful. It was hard enough thinking about the days leading up to the battle on the bridge, he decided to spare himself the tears and get on with the tribute as opposed to pondering the battle. There would be plenty of time for that later.

With a heavy heart, Naruto lit the lanterns in order, first the golden star lamp, then the tree lamp, third, the water lamp, and finally, the lunar lamp. They all glowed beautifully in the darkness of the night.

One by one, Naruto carried them to the shore of the river and gingerly placed them in the water. He felt tears welling up in his eyes as he watched the lights travel down the black waters of the lake.

He remained silent until the only spec of light in the distance was the lunar lamp, tears felt appropriate, but Naruto just couldn't completely bring himself to cry anymore. He instead offered one final goodbye.

"I'm glad I met you Haku… I just wish we could have met under different circumstances..."

Naruto fell to his knees as the purple speck of light finally faded from view.

 ** _"I'm sorry too..."_**

* * *

~ Breath of the Wiz

 _Signin' Off_


End file.
